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SKETCHES  AND  NOTICES 


OF 


THE  CHICAGO  BAR; 


INCLUDING   THE   MORE    PROMINENT 


LAWYERS  AND  JUDGES 


OF   THE    CITY    AND    SUBURBAN    TOWNS. 


BY  F.  B.    W ILK  IE,  (POLIUTO.) 


FOURTH    (REVISED)    EDITION. 


CHICAGO  : 

THE     WESTERN     NEWS     COMPANY 
1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871, 

BY  F.  B.  WILKIE, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION. 


The  subject-matter  herewith  given,  was  written  for,  and  pub- 
lished in,  THE  SUNDAY  TIMES  of  this  city.  The  sketches  are  now 
presented  in  book  form,  after  having  received  important  revision, 
alteration  and  addition. 

CHICAGO,  May,   1871. 


PREFACE   TO   SECOND   EDITION. 


THE  present  edition  has  been  made  up  since"  the  Great  Fire, 

and  contains  many  names  and  includes  much  matter  that  were 
not  in  the  former  edition. 

CHICAGO,  June,  1872.  F.  B.  W. 


I. 
WILLIAM  K.  MCALLISTER. 

ALTHOUGH  Judge  McAllister  has  been  recently  promoted  to  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  at  the  present  time  of  writing 
it  is  deemed  best  to  notice  him  as  a  lawyer.  Up  to  a  very  recent 
date,  he  has  been  identified  with  the  legal  fraternity ;  and  his  charac- 
ter as  a  lawyer  is  yet  too  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all  to  permit  his  being 
passed  over  as  not  belonging  to  this  branch  of  the  legal  profession. 

Judge  McAllister  is  now  about  fifty-two  years  of  age,  and  he  was 
born  on  a  farm,  in  Salem,  Washington  county,  New  York.  He 
remained  on  the  farm  until  he  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  when 
he  entered  college,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  without  graduating, 
owing  to  ill  health.  He  then  devoted  some  time  to  hunting  and  fish- 
ing, and  a  general  out-door  life,  in  order  to  recuperate.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-one  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  Wayne  county,  under  a 
lawyer  named  Henry,  finished  his  studies  in  Yates  county,  and  then 
removed  to  Albion,  where  he  resided  some  ten  years. 

While  in  Albion  he  steadily  followed  his  profession,  and  was 
brought  into  contact  with  some  of  the  best  legal  minds  of  the  State, 
and  thereby  secured  an  experience  and  a  discipline  which,  to  a  young 
lawyer,  were  invaluable.  In  1854  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  since 
that  period  until  his  promotion  to  the  Supreme  bench,  he  followed 
his  chosen  profession.  His  official  life  is  easily  summed  up.  He  ran 
against  Jameson  as  a  candidate  for  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in 
1866,  but  was  unsuccessful.  In  1868  he  ran  for  Judge  of  the  Recor- 
der's Court,  and  was  overwhelmingly  elected.  In  1870  he  was 
elected  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  position  he  now 
occupies. 

In  personal  appearance  Judge  McAllister  is  attractive.  He  is  of 
medium  height,  has  a  well-rounded  figure,  and  a  massive  forehead, 
whose  character  is  not  detracted  from  by  the  intense  humaneness  of 
the  face  and  womanly  eyes  below.  His  mouth  is  small  and  sensitive, 


6  THE   CHICAGO    BAR. 

his  eyes  large,  lustrous  and  blue,  and  his  cheeks  clean  shaven.  There 
is  nothing  effeminate  in  the  face,  yet  it  is  so  fine  and  kindly  that  it 
becomes  benignant  in  some  of  its  expressions.  This  fineness,  this 
sensitiveness,  this  warm  humanity,  are  major  qualities  in  his  make-up, 
and  are  potent  in  their  consequences  with  reference  to  every  act  of 
his  private  and  his  professional  life. 

As  may  be  inferred,  these  generous  elements  in  his  character  very 
largely  influence  him  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  is  too 
kindly  to  be  unjust,  too  humane  to  be  ever  found  save  on  the  side 
which  he  conscientiously  believes  to  be  right.  A  result  of  this  is  that 
he  has  always  gone  before  a  court  or  a  jury  with  such  a  profound 
conviction  of  the  justice  of  his  cause  that  this  fact  alone  has  carried 
great  weight,  and  has  been  a  prime  element  in  the  success  which  has 
attended  him. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  possesses  great  industry,  a  very  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  the  law,  and  a  logical  ability,  the  general  result  of  which 
is  that  he  rarely  if  ever  makes  any  blunders.  His  decisions,  while  on 
the  Recorder's  bench,  when  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court,  with  a  single 
exception,  came  back  sustained.  He  combines  in  himself  the  better 
qualities  of  an  attorney  and  an  advocate.  He  can  prepare  his  own 
brief  with  a  perfection  that  permits  of  no  flaw,  and  then  try  it  in  so 
masterly  a  manner  that  the  success  of  his  client  has  nearly  always 
been  assured  when  he  agrees  to  accept  a  retainer.  Before  a  jury,  he 
always  was  effective  from  the  sincerity  before  spoken  of,  and  which, 
with  his  entire  truthfulness,  his  complete  avoidance  of  anything  like 
trickery  or  buncombe,  his  clear  knowledge  of  the  case,  has  given  him 
an  eloquence  whose  power  was  infinitely  in  excess  of  that  of  any  pro- 
fessed and  pretentious  elocutionist. 

No  lawyer  in  Chicago  stands  higher  than  Judge  McAllister.  His 
integrity,  humanity  and  sincerity  have  become  proverbial ;  and  so 
high  is  his  personal  character,  that  he  has  escaped  even  the  attacks  of 
political  partizanship.  In  his  private  life  he  is  no  less  elevated  than 
in  his  professional  career.  He  is  fond  of  the  society  of  personal 
friends ;  and  when  he  unbends  himself  from  the  official  strain  he  has 
all  the  elasticity  and  freshness  of  boyhood.  He  rarely  goes  into  general 
society,  but  has  intense  domesticity,  and  finds  no  place  so  attractive 
as  home,  with  its  luxuries,  its  music,  its  affections  and  its  beauties. 
In  fine,  whether  regarded  as  an  official  or  a  private  citizen,  Judge 
McAllister  is  a  gentleman  whose  intellect  is  superior,  and  whose 
life  and  motives  are  absolutely  above  all  reproach. 


JOSEPH    KNOX. 


JOSEPH  KNOX. 

THIS  gentleman  belongs  to  the  former  generation,  but  he  also 
belongs  to  the  profession  both  of  Chicago  and  the  West,  and  therein 
is  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  present  group  of  celebrities.  He  was 
born  in  Blanford,  Massachusetts,  in  1805.  He  studied  law  with  his 
brother,  General  Alanson  Knox,  in  his  native  town,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1828.  He  then  removed  to  Worcester  county,  in  the 
same  State,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  while 
there  was  thrown  into  competition  with  such  men  as  Hon.  John  Davis, 
Rejoice  Newton,  Charles  Allen,  Ira  Barton,  Pliny  Merrick  and  Emory 
Washburne,  all  of  whom  are  now  dead  save  the  last  named. 

In  1837  he  removed  West  with  his  family  to  Stephenson,  now 
Rock  Island  county,  Illinois,  where  he  continued  in  the  practice  of 
law  for  twenty-three  years.  During  the  most  of  that  period  he  was 
associated  with  Hon.  John  W.  Drury,  under  the  name  of  Knox  & 
Drury,  a  firm  whose  name  has  been  heard  and  made  familiar  through- 
out the  entire  West.  During  most  of  the  time,  the  Rock  Island  cir- 
cuit embraced  some  ten  adjacent  counties,  in  addition  to  practicing  in 
all  of  which,  Mr.  Knox's  professional  labors  carried  him  into  Peoria 
and  Knox  counties,  in  which  he  met  such  men  as  Judges  Purple  and 
Peters,  L.  B.  Knowlton  and  Julius  Manning,  who  were  his  associates 
or  competitors  in  all  these  districts,  and  among  whom  there  sprang 
into  existence  a  deep  personal  attachment  and  intimacy,  as  was  also 
the  case  at  Rock  Island  with  Judge  I.  O.  Wilkinson,  now  of  Chicago, 
and  his  partner,  Judge  Pleasants. 

Mr.  Knox  removed  to  Chicago  in  1860,  and  soon  after  was  made 
State's  Attorney,  a  position  which  he  held  for  four  years,  until  it 
passed  by  election  to  his  then  partner,  the  present  incumbent,  Charles 
H.  Reed.  Since  that  period,  Mr.  Knox  has  been  in  general  practice, 
and  now,  although  sixty-six  years  of  age,  he  walks  daily  a  distance  of 
four  miles  to  and  from  his  office,  and  has  not  seen  a  day's  illness  in 
thirty  years.  Mr.  Knox  is  a  trifle  below  medium  height,  is  slender, 
with  gray  hair  and  beard,  and  blue  eyes.  His  head  is  large,  and  filled 
with  a  brain  of  enormous  power.  His  great  success  in  his  profession 


8  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

is  so  well  known  that  more  than  mere  allusion  to  it  here  would  be 
superfluous.  He  is  an  advocate,  and  it  was  said  of  him  by  Judge 
McLean  :  "  He  is  the  most  powerful  jury  advocate  I  ever  had  before 
me." 

Among  the  many  highly  important  cases  in  which  he  has  been 
engaged,  and  the  trial  of  which  has  made  his  name  prominent  on  the 
list  of  leading  lawyers  in  the  West,  may  be  mentioned  the  trial  of  the 
murderers  of  Colonel  Davenport,  at  Rock  Island,  in  1846  ;  the  suc- 
cessful defense,  at  Iowa  City,  in  1857,  of  the  nine  men  charged  with 
the  murder  of  Boyd  Wilkinson,  and  which  trial  lasted  an  entire  month ; 
the  successful  defense,  in  the  United  States  Court  held  in  Chicago  by 
Justice  McLean,  some  twelve  years  ago,  in  the  case  of  the  owners  of 
the  steamer  Effie  Afton  against  the  Rock  Island  Bridge  Company ; 
the  Frink  and  Walker  case  ;  the  Hopps  murder  trial ;  the  case  against 
Judge  Scates  ;  and  many  others  of  like  importance. 


THOMAS    HOYNE. 


THOMAS  HOYNE. 

MR.  HOYNE  is  scarcely  now  in  the  active  practice  of  the  profession 
of  law.  He  has  had  a  long  and  active  as  well  as  brilliant  career  in 
Chicago  and  the  West  as  a  lawyer,  a  politician,  and  an  official.  Just 
now  he  is  rather  reclining  upon  his  honors,  and  is  bringing  to  the 
front  members  of  his  own  family,  whom,  in  the  liberal  professions,  he 
proposes  to  make  as  prominent  as  he  has  been,  or  is  himself.  Al- 
though somewhat  withdrawn  from  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, he  has  been  so  long  identified  with  the  bar  of  Chicago,  and  the 
political  interests  of  the  West,  that  an  omission  of  his  name  in  an 
article  of  the  present  character  would  leave  it  noticeably  incomplete. 
His  life  is  of  value  as  teaching  what  may  be  accomplished  by  indus- 
try and  a  determination  to  permit  no  obstacle  to  interfere  with  a 
rapid  progress. 

Mr.  Hoyne  was  born  in  New  York  city  in  1817,  and  he  there  at- 
tended school  until  1830.  He  was  then  apprenticed  to  a  manufac- 
turer of  fancy  goods,  and  remained  at  the  business  until  1835. 
Having,  during  his  apprenticeship,  found  time  to  cultivate  his  intel- 
lect, and  the  acquaintance  of  some  eminent  men,  he  determined  to 
study  law.  He  worked  in  a  wholesale  grocery  in  the  day  time  and 
studied  at  night,  during  a  year.  He  then  entered  the  law  office  of 
Hon.  John  Brinkerhoff,  and  remained  another  year.  In  1837  he 
came  to  Chicago,  then  in  the  first  year  of  its  existence  under  a  city 
charter.  He  obtained  employment  in  the  Circuit  Clerk's  office,  studied 
hard  all  the  while,  taught  for  a  time  in  one  of  the  public  schools,  took 
up  Latin  and  French  in  addition  to  law,  and  in  1839  completed  his 
legal  studies  in  the  office  of  Hon.  J.  Y.  Scammon,  and  was  very  soon 
after  admitted  to  the  bar. 

From  that  period  down  to  the  present  time,  Mr.  Hoyne  has  been 
prominently  before  the  people  of  Chicago.  He  was  elected  City 
Clerk  in  1840,  to  which  office  he  was  reflected  the  succeeding  year. 
In  1841  he  drew  up  a  memorial  to  Congress  praying  for  the  comple- 
tion of  the  harbor  of  this  city — an  exhaustive  and  able  document. 
To  this  was  attached  a  schedule  of  all  the  mercantile  firms  which  had 


10  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

been  engaged  in  business  up  to  that  time.  This  was  an  undertaking 
requiring  indomitable  energy  and  perseverance,  there  being  at  that 
early  day  neither  Custom  House  or  Board  of  Trade  Registry,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  all  information  was  obtained  by  personal  applica- 
tion to  the  parties.  At  this  time  the  population  of  Illinois  was  prin- 
cipally Southern  in  birth  and  taste,  with  strong  prejudices  against 
New  England  habits.  Notwithstanding,  the  Common  Council  decided 
to  get  up  a  local  and  pocket  edition  of  Thanksgiving  in  Chicago,  and 
Mr.  Hoyne,  as  City  Clerk,  drew  up  the  first  proclamation  ever  issued 
in  Illinois. 

He  removed  to  Galena  for  two  years  and  then  returned  to  Chica- 
go, and  was  elected  Probate  Judge  in  1847  ;  and  after  the  election  of 
Pierce  he  was  made  United  States  District  Attorney  for  the  District 
of  Illinois.  In  1859  he  was  made  United  States  Marshal  for  the 
Northern  District  of  this  State. 

In  1851  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Association 
(late  Library  Association),  which  had  maintained  a  precarious  exist- 
ence since  1842,  drew  up  a  charter,  provided  for  a  building,  estab- 
lished a  lecture  course,  and  delivered  before  the  society  a  lecture 
upon  "Trial  by  Jury."  He  was  reflected  in  1852,  the  only  instance, 
with  one  exception,  where  the  same  person  has  held  the  office  two 
consecutive  years. 

He  was  the  first  to  make  an  effort  to  establish  a  law  school  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  and  procured  at  great  personal  expense  the  first 
Professor,  the  present  Judge  Booth,  beside  making  a  contribution  of 
five  thousand  dollars  as  an  endowment  fund  to  establish  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  a  chair  of  constitutional  and  international  law. 
He  has  been  an  officer  of  the  Institution  in  various  capacities  from 
its  organization  to  the  present  time.  The  total  destruction  of  the 
library  and  records  of  the  Law  Institute  in  the  fire  of  October,  1871, 
rendered  an  immense  amount  of  labor  necessary  to  its  reestablish- 
ment.  Mr.  Hoyne  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Correspond- 
ence, in  which  capacity  his  untiring  efforts  were  successful  in 
procuring  large  and  valuable  contributions  from  the  various  States  to 
the  library  of  the  Institute.  In  the  work  of  building  up  the  Chicago 
University  he  has  been  an  efficient  laborer  and  a  munificent  patron. 
He  was  an  active  agent  in  the  purchase  of  the  great  telescope,  the 
largest  refractor  on  the  globe ;  and  has  been  Secretary  of  the  Astron- 
omical Society  since  its  organization.  He  was  also,  at  the  time  of 
the  destruction  of  its  archives  and  buildings,  Vice-President  of  the 


THOMAS    HOYNE.  II 

Historical  Society.  In  fine,  in  all  the  monuments  of  law,  literature 
and  politics  erected  in  Chicago,  there  appear  material  elements,  which 
are  the  handiwork  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch. 

In  other  respects  Mr  Hoyne  has  been  very  prominent  and  active. 
He  has  given  his  personal  influence  in  every  national  canvass  which 
has  occurred  since  his  residence  in  Chicago.  He  has  been  a  speaker 
and  writer  of  incessant  activity  on  every  question  of  importance  that 
has  come  before  the  public. 

During  the  war  he  was,  with  Judges  Drummond,  John  M.  Wilson, 
Arrington  and  others,  a  member  of  the  Union  Defense  Committee ; 
and  it  was  he  who  wrote  the  celebrated  address  that  was  issued  over 
the  signature  of  John  M.  Wilson  as  chairman.  Among  his  later 
efforts,  his  oration  at  Ottawa,  Illinois,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1871,  on 
the  "  New  Departure,"  was  a  production  which  added  greatly  to  an 
already  brilliant  reputation  as  an  orator.  In  September  of  the  same 
year,  at  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  as  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  he  drafted  the  platform  which  was  adopted, 
and  has  since  become  the  basis  of  the  Liberal  movement. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  has  occupied  a  position  second  to  but  few, 
which  fact,  in  connection  with  his  vast  labors  in  other  directions, 
proves  his  great  industry  and  his  high  ability.  Among  the  notable 
trials  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  are  the  celebrated  Bush  case ; 
and  a  litigation  involving  nearly  half  a  million  of  dollars,  which  he 
brought  to  a  successful  termination  in  favor  of  his  client. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Hoyne  is  a  very  marked  man.  His 
eyes  are  black  and  piercing,  his  countenance  swarthy,  his  features 
regular,  and  his  hair  jet  black  and  curly. .  He  is  erect,  rather  haughty 
in  his  carriage,  and  resembles  more  than  anything  else,  an  intellectual 
and  aristocratic  outgrowth  of  southern  Europe.  His  appearance  is 
changing,  sometimes  being  sunny  and  genial,  and  at  other  times 
haughty  and  distrait,  with  a  hint  of  savagery,  as  if  he  were  about 
going  on  the  war-path.  He  is  a  man  of  an  irascible  disposition,  but 
who,  while  quick  to  resent,  is  equally  ready  to  pardon,  or  to  confess 
an  error  when  one  has  been  committed.  He  is  eminently  chivalrous 
in  all  his  feelings,  and  is  one  of  the  most  thorough  and  finished  gen- 
tlemen at  the  Chicago  bar.  He  is  impulsive  to  a  very  high  degree, 
and  while  acting  from  these  motives  is  always  prepared  to  review  his 
course  in  his  cooler  moments,  and  to  pronounce  as  dispassionately 
with  reference  to  himself  as  to  another.  He  is  thoroughly  respected, 
not  only  as  a  lawyer,  but  as  a  citizen.  His  quick,  impetuous  nature 


12  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

inclines  him  to  warm  attachments ;  and  he  is  one  whose  positive  views 
of  everybody  incline  him  either  to  like  or  dislike  everything  with 
which  he  comes  in  contact.  He  is  indifferent  in  his  regard  to  but 
few  people  whom  he  knows,  and  for  this  reason  he  includes  every- 
body among  his  friends  or  enemies.  That  the  latter  are  the  few,  and 
the  former  the  many,  is  proof  positive  of  his  geniality  and  his  just 
discrimination  of  character.  In  his  life  he  has  furnished  a  model 
which  every  young  man  of  Chicago  can  study  and  imitate  with  profit. 


WILLIAM    C.    GOUDY.  13 


WILLIAM    C.   GOUDY. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Indiana  in  1824,  and  eight  years 
afterward  removed  to  Illinois,  and  has  resided  here  ever  since.  He 
graduated  at  the  Illinois  College  in  1845,  and  read  law  at  Springfield 
under  Judge  S.  T.  Logan.  He  began  his  professional  career  in  1848 
in  Fulton  county,  and  remained  there  until  1860.  During  this  period 
he  practiced  in  several  adjacent  counties  of  the  Military  Tract,  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  United  States  Court  of  Springfield.  He 
was  a  partner  of  Judge  Wead,  now  of  Peoria,  until  that  gentleman 
was  elected  Judge  in  1853.  When  he  commenced  practice  he  encoun- 
tered Archibald  Williams,  O.  H.  Browning,  Julius  Manning,  Judge 
Purple,  Chief  Justice  Lawrence,  Cyrus  Walker,  Thomas  L.  Harris, 
the  late  President  Lincoln,  and  other  distinguished  lawyers  of  central 
Illinois,  and  in  that  school  was  compelled  to  triumph  or  fail.  His 
progress  was  rapid,  so  that  he  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  that 
portion  of  the  bar  when  he  made  this  city  his  home.  In  1856  he  was 
sent  to  the  State  Senate  from  the  counties  of  Fulton  and  McDonough, 
and  he  served  the  State  in  this  legislative  capacity  for  four  years. 
From  1852  to  1855  he  was  State's  Attorney  of  the  Tenth  Judicial 
District,  but  resigned  his  office  to  give  his  attention  more  largely  to 
civil  practice. 

The  positions  of  Senator  and  State's  Attorney  are  the  only  official 
ones  Mr.  Goudy  has  ever  held,  although  he  has  been  presented  for 
other  offices.  He  was  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator  in  1863, 
and  the  year  before  was  also  a  candidate  for  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, but  was  unsuccessful  in  both  cases.  At  the  close  of  1859  he 
removed  to  Chicago,  since  which  he  has  resided  here,  and  has  prac- 
ticed his  profession  in  the  Federal  and  State  Courts,  and  also  in  the 
Supreme  Court  at  Washington.  The  reports  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Illinois  show  Mr.  Goudy  to  have  been  an  extensive  practitioner 
from  1853  to  the  present  time,  and  his  cases  may  be  found  in  every 
volume  of  the  forty  volumes  since  he  argued  his  first  case  before  that 
tribunal.  There  is  no  practitioner  in  the  State  who  has  had  a  greater 
number  of  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court  than  Mr.  Goudy,  and  of 
these  many  are  of  the  greatest  importance.  In  closing  this  outline  of 
his  public  life,  it  may  be  added  that  Mr.  Goudy  once  took  an  active 


14  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

personal  interest  in  politics ;  and  while  doing  so  achieved  a  reputation 
second  to  no  amateur  politician  in  Illinois.  Latterly  he  has  totally 
abandoned  politics,  and  he  now  devotes  himself  exclusively  to  his 
profession. 

Mr.  Goudy  is  of  medium  height  and  build.  He  has  blue  or  gray 
eyes  and  regular  features,  whose  expression  when  in  repose,  or  in  the 
presence  of  strangers,  would  seem  to  rather  repel  intimacy.  Still, 
sometimes  in  conversation,  or  during  the  delivery  of  a  speech,  the 
face  lights  up  and  glows,  and  then  becomes  genial,  expressive  and 
inviting. 

As  a  general  practitioner  and  real  estate  lawyer,  Mr.  Goudy  takes 
no  second  position  at  the  Chicago  bar.  He  wastes  no  words  in  pre- 
senting a  case,  but  goes  directly  to  the  point,  and  holds  himself  to  it 
until  the  subject  is  completely  exhausted.  Thoroughly  posted  on 
authorities,  he  presents  them  clearly  and  in  logical  order ;  and  thus, 
while  scarcely  ever  rhetorically  brilliant,  he  is  thoroughly  effective. 
His  opinions  on  real  estate  matters  are  the  result  of  an  extended 
knowledge  of  authorities,  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  routine 
and  practice  involved  in  such  business,  and  an  observation  sharpened 
by  long  experience.  He  unravels  without  seeming  difficulty  the  most 
intricate  questions,  and  patiently  but  surely  reaches  conclusions  that 
are  rarely  other  than  sound  and  complete. 

One  of  his  marked  qualities  is  an  intense  secretiveness.  He  is 
reticent,  and  is  always  a  sort  of  locomotive  enigma.  In  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  charter  or  legislative  act,  he  evinces  vast  foresight,  and  in 
any  litigation  which  may  grow  from  any  such  charter  or  acts,  he  is 
able,  with  almost  entire  certainty,  to  anticipate  the  decision  of  the 
higher  courts.  As  a  counsellor  he  is  a  very  prudent  man,  and  he  will 
never  give  a  client  an  opinion  that  will  be  likely  to  involve  him  in  a 
losing  litigation.  He  prepares  a  case  with  the  utmost  care,  tries  it 
closely,  discusses  legal  questions  arising  with  great  clearness,  is  per- 
fectly unmoved  during  its  progress,  and  accepts  defeat  or  victory  with 
a  passionless  face  and  an  imperturbability  that  are  adamantine  in 
their  character. 

In  his  private  life  Mr.  Goudy  is  characterized  by  a  large  develop- 
ment of  domestic  qualities  of  a  high  order.  He  has  acquired  a  fortune 
from  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  possesses  a  home  to  whose 
adornment  he  gives  all  the  time  which  can  be  spared  from  his  office 
life.  He  is  a  competent  lawyer,  a  respected  citizen,  and  a  gentleman 
who  fully  appreciates  and  enjoys  the  comforts  of  a  luxurious  home. 


CORYDON    BECKWITH.  15 


CORYDON    BECKWITH. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Vermont  in  1823.  He  was  educated 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  Brentham,  Massachussetts.  He 
studied  law  in  St.  Albans,  Vermont,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
that  place  in  1844;  and  two  years  later  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Maryland.  He  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  St.  Albans  in 
1847,  and  remained  there  until  1853,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago. 
Since  residing  here  he  served  a  limited  term  on  the  Supreme  bench, 
having  been  appointed  to  that  position  by  Governor  Yates. 

In  personal  appearance,  Judge  Beckwith  is  not  what  would  be 
considered  an  Adonis,  although  his  looks  indicate  intellect  and  energy. 
He  is  of  very  substantial  build,  with  a  large,  well-balanced  head, 
prominent  and  large  black  eyes,  a  swarthy  complexion,  black  hair, 
and  a  clean-shaved  face.  His  whole  appearance  suggests  strength, 
resolution  and  secresy.  His  face  is  strong  rather  than  refined ;  and 
his  mental  characteristics  seem  the  reflection  of  his  massive,  strong- 
built  physical  organization.  He  is  more  of  the  weaver's  beam,  the 
pile-driving  class  of  mechanicism  than  that  of  a  music-box. 

In  his  mental  development,  Judge  Beckwith  is  a  remarkable  man. 
He  is  universally  conceded  to  be,  in  many  essential  particulars,  the 
very  strongest  lawyer  at  this  bar.  As  a  lawyer,  he  has  very  profound 
learning.  He  is  one  who  is  governed  by  principles,  and  not  cases. 
He  is  a  man  who  always  presents  what  he  has  .to  offer  to  a  court  and 
jury  in  a  novel  and  forcible  manner.  He  is,  perhaps,  less  a  mere 
advocate  than  some  others  in  the  profession ;  but  his  chief  ability  lies 
in  a  different  and  higher  direction.  It  is  entirely  safe  to  say  of  him 
that,  as  an  opponent,  he  is  the  most  dangerous  lawyer  in  the  West. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  member  of  the  legal  profession  in  this  city 
whom  it  is  not  more  easy  to  accurately  describe  than  Judge  Beckwith. 
He  is,  above  all  things,  reticent  and  secretive,  and  is  none  the  less  so 
than  at  times,  when  necessity  demands,  he  seems  boyishly  frank,  and 
ingenuously  communicative.  He  has  the  frankness  of  a  Talleyrand, 
who  communicates  to  one  just  what  he  desires  to  say,  and  no  more. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  a  faithful  description  of  him  is  a  matter  of 


l6  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

supreme  difficulty.  One  does  not  always  know  him,  who  apparently 
is  in  a  position  to  know  him  best.  These  peculiarities  are  not  asserted 
to  be  a  defect  in  his  composition  ;  they  may  be,  and  undoubtedly  are, 
a  necessary  development  of  his  character  as  a  great  manager. 

It  is  as  a  manager,  a  director  of  operations,  that  he  assumes  a  grand 
position.  He  is  a  man  who  can  originate  a  line  of  offense  or  defense 
better,  probably,  than  any  lawyer  in  Chicago.  He  has  also  the  ability 
to  execute ;  but  perhaps  this  quality  in  his  character  does  not 
receive  the  recognition  it  deserves,  for  various  reasons.  Principally  is 
this  the  case  from  the  fact  that  he  is  oftener  called  upon  to  plan  than 
to  carry  out  what  he  has  designed.  He  is  somewhat  in  the  position 
of  a  leader  of  a  great  army  whose  corps  d'armee  are  operating  over 
an  extended  country.  In  such  a  case,  the  leader  is  not  called  on  to 
execute.  He  directs  movements,  and  leaves  their  execution  to  subor- 
dinates. Constantly  consulted  in  cases  of  all  icinds,  by  all  classes, 
and  more  especially  by  lawyers,  Judge  Beckwith  devises  operations 
for  them,  lays  out  the  plan  of  carrying  them  through,  and  then  leaves 
the  minutiae  to  their  action.  From  this  fact  has  grown  the  impression 
that  he  can  not  execute,  whereas  the  truth  is  that  he  has  demonstrated 
the  exact  contrary  in  many  cases,  while  it  is  further  true  that  he  has 
not  the  time  to,  nor  is  there  a  necessity  for,  his  devoting  himself  to 
details.  It  may  also  be  added  that  he  is  often  the  hidden  inspiration 
in  many  a  case  in  which  others  appear  as  the  prominent  figures,  while 
they  are  in  reality  but  instruments,  moved  by  wires  whose  termina- 
tion and  moving  power  are  not  seen  or  suspected  by  the  public. 

The  inference  is  unavoidable  from  this  statement,  that  he  acts 
frequently  by  indirection.  This  is  true.  He  seems  to  often  prefer 
this  method  of  attack  and  defense.  It  leaves  the  real  origin  of  the 
forces  in  operation  a  mystery,  and  therein  baffles  those  against  whom 
they  are  directed.  From  this  fact  may  have  grown  the  impression 
that  he  is  a  lobbyist  in  politics ;  but  in  this  respect  it  is  entirely  safe 
to  say  that  he  is  not  a  success,  whatever  may  be  his  aspirations  in  that 
direction.  He  may  occasionally  be  seen  about  the  outer  circle  of  the 
halls  of  legislation,  but,  whatever  he  may  desire  there,  or  whatever 
may  be  his  success,  it  is  certain  that  he  belongs  to  judicial  rather  than 
legislative  departments,  and  that  his  true  role  is  that  of  the  legal  man- 
ager. In  this  line  of  effort  he  has  few  rivals  and  no  superior.  He 
is  not  only  a  very  profound  lawyer,  but  he  is  a  diplomatic  lawyer  in 
addition.  He  adds  to  his  exhaustive  knowledge  of  law,  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  all  its  mechanism,  of  human  nature  —  such  as  may  be 


CORYDON    BECKWITH.  If 

required  to  be  operated  upon  in  a  legal  direction  —  and  of  all  the 
appliances  which  must  be  employed  to  achieve  success. 

Present  defeat  does  not  baffle,  nor  does  a  sudden,  unexpected  and 
pressing  emergency  unnerve  or  discompose  him.  He  is  so  fertile  in 
invention,  and  so  experienced  in  details,  that  nothing  can  find  him 
unprepared,  or  throw  him  from  his  balance.  He  has  not  only  a  great 
legal  mind,  but  he  has  the  mind,  the  secretiveness,  the  resolution,  the 
nerve  of  a  diplomat.  He  can  not  only  operate  all  the  tremendous 
machinery  of  law,  but  he  can  bring  to  its  aid,  in  any  desired  direction, 
the  powerful  mechanism  of  secret  influences,  remote  personal  efforts, 
and  a  complication  of  agencies,  that  are  the  more  potential  in  that 
they  are  invisible,  and  almost  always  unsuspected.  Men  who  have 
him  as  an  opponent,  have  not  merely  to  combat  the  lawyer  who  is 
familiar  with  all  principles  and  precedents,  and  rules  of  practice,  but 
also  a  supreme  and  sagacious  management,  whose  character  and 
power  are  never  known  until  the  moment  of  their  development. 
There  is  no  more  industrious  member  of  the  legal  profession  than 
Judge  Beckwith,  and  there  rarely  occurs  a  case  of  more  than  average 
importance  in  which  he  is  not  retained.  He  excels  in  the  preparation 
of  condensed,  pertinent  briefs,  and  in  the  handling  of  cases  in  which 
there  are  no  precedents,  and  in  which  he  originates  or  discovers  the 
legal  principles  necessary  to  their  successful  disposition.  As  an  orig- 
inator he  is  just  as  remarkable  as  he.  is  a  manager,  and  in  both  these 
respects  he  probably  stands  without  a  rival. 

Socially,  Judge  Beckwith  is  very  agreeable.  His  knowledge  of 
men  is  vast,  and  in  this  he  possesses  a  never-ending  fund  of  interest- 
ing information.  He  is  much  liked  by  those  who  are  intimate  with 
him,  and  he  adds  to  his  personal  popularity  the  renown  of  being  among 
the  very  first  lawyers,  not  merely  of  Chicago,  but  of  the  country.  '  He 
is  a  man  of  very  generous  impulses  and  actions,  is  large-hearted  and 
large-souled,  and  his  kindness  to  young  lawyers  has  not  only  been 
frequent,  but  it  has  been  of  material  value  to  them,  and  forms  a  sub- 
ject to  very  many  of  them  of  grateful  remembrance. 


l8  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


SAMUEL  W.  FULLER. 

THIS  lawyer  is  one  of  those  men  who  are  popularly  known  as  self- 
made.  He  has  risen  to  his  present  position,  not  by  the  aid  of  wealth, 
or  of  great  natural  abilities,  but  by  a  perseveringly  studious  life,  and 
entire  dependence  upon  himself  for  the  means  to  secure  his  educa- 
tional advancement. 

He  is  now  about  forty-eight  ^ears  of  age,  and  is  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, where  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  married.  He  came  to 
this  State  with  only  his  education  and  his  hands,  and  supported  him- 
self for  a  while  as  school-teacher,  until  he  could  secure  practice  as  a 
lawyer.  It  was  while  he  was  thus  combining  the. pedagogue  and  the 
lawyer,  that  he  resided  in  Tazewell  county,  in  this  State.  He  was 
there  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  from  that  place  he  was  sent  to  the  Illi- 
nois Senate,  where  his  abilities  first  attracted  the  notice  of  J.  Y.  Scam- 
mon,  with  whom  Mr.  Fuller  is  now  in  partnership.  In  time,  he  came 
where  a  majority  of  all  the  great  lawyers  of  the  Northwest  come,  to 
Chicago.  The  distance  between  the  Tazewell  county  school-teacher 
and  the  prominent  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Scammon,  McCagg  & 
Fuller,  is  broad,  and  that  it  has  been  traversed  in  comparatively  so 
short  a  space  of  time,  is  in  the  highest  degree  complimentary  to  the 
endurance  and  perseverance  of  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
article. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Fuller  is  a  study.  He  is  tall,  slender, 
with  sandy  whiskers  and  moustache,  light  gray  eyes,  a  very  broad  and 
prominent  forehead,  and  abundant  hair.  His  countenance  is  as  fine 
as  a  proof,  and  has  the  delicacy  of  a  close-worked  steel  engraving. 
It  is  a  face  whose  salient  indications  are  refinement,  intelligence,  and 
a  sort  of  timid  diffidence  that  is  almost  girlish.  It  is  a  face  which,  in 
addition  to  these  indications,  shadows  forth  a  singularly  legible  ex- 
pression of  honesty  and  candor.  Were  one  to  conclude  from  the  study 
of  the  face  that  its  owner  were  a  clergyman,  or  a  literary  man, — as  he 
probably  would, — he  would  think  that  it  had  no  failure  ;  but  were  he 
told  that  its  possessor  were  a  lawyer,  he  might  be  of  the  opinion  that 
a  few  coarser  lines  in  it  would  be  of  advantage.  In  brief,  it  is  rather 


SAMUEL    W.    FULLER.  19 

too  fine  a  face  for  the  popular  estimate  of  the  character  of  a  lawyer. 
It  would  do  for  some  scientist,  who  requires  patient  investigation,  and 
not  imagination,  or  for  any  other  class  of  professional  men  who  do  not 
need  any  inherent  driving  power,  and  whose  business  is  of  a  character 
that  demands  no  enthusiasm,  only  a  calm  and  undeviating  apprecia- 
tion. 

The  mental  processes  of  Mr  Fuller  are  slow,  and  remarkably  cor- 
rect and  sure.  He  has  a  very  excellent  knowledge  of  law,  but  not 
sufficient  to  make  him  devoted  to  its  letter  in  contra-distinction  to  its 
spirit.  He  has  a  very  thorough  comprehension  of  legal  principles, 
and  the  knowledge  of  books  requisite  to  give  those  principles  authori- 
tative force.  His  role  is  not  that  of  an  advocate  to  any  considerable 
extent.  His  presentation  of  a  case  is  never  fervid,  or  forcible  in  a 
rhetorical  sense.  Nevertheless,  his  comprehension  of  principles  and 
authorities,  together  with  a  clear  habit  of  thought,  enables  him  to 
present  a  case  with  great  logical  force.  If  he  has  a  failure  in  his 
character  as  an  advocate  before  a  jury,  it  is  found  in  the  fact  that  he 
seems  to  over-estimate  their  intelligence.  He  addresses  them  with 
the  terseness  that  he  would  employ  were  he  addressing  a  judge,  or 
men  of  his  own  intellectual  level.  He  will  present  them  a  point  in  the 
fewest  possible  words,  and  then  leave  it.  He  never  insists  upon  their 
comprehending  it.  He  does  not  amplify  it,  and  present  it  to  them  in 
different  lights,  as  should  be  done  in  the  case  of  a  jury  of  men  of 
ordinary  capacity,  and  of  whom  no  two  can,  by  any  possibility,  see  the 
same  thing  from  the  same  point  of  view.  Either  Mr.  Fuller  pays  the 
jury  too  high  a  compliment  in  intentionally  confining  his  statements 
to  mathematical  brevity  and  precision,  or  else  he  commits  a  blunder 
in  not  better  comprehending  the  necessities  of  the  situation  occupied 
by  a  jury  lawyer.  His  addresses  have  all  the  nakedness  of  mathe- 
matical propositions.  They  never  glow  or  melt,  but  they  convince, 
providing  they  are  given  to  minds  that  have  the  capacity  to  compre- 
hend his  statements,  and  the  honesty  to  decide  according  to  their 
convictions.  He  presents  his  propositions  calmly  and  modestly,  but 
rather  in  the  style  of  a  clear-headed  collegiate  professor,  enunciating 
propositions  of  a  high  order  to  men  of  his  own  profession.  He  knows 
no  such  thing  as  engineering  or  figuring  a  case.  He  regards  it  from 
a  standpoint  which  includes  the  legal  principle,  the  evidence,  and  the 
interests  of  his  clients.  If  he  wins  a  case,  it  is  done  straight-forwardly, 
and  upon  its  merits,  and  if  he  conducts  his  case  in  such  a  manner 


20  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

that  he  is  defeated,  he  always  retires  with  the  honors  of  war  and  the 
entire  respect  of  his  opponents. 

Mr.  Fuller  strengthens  himself  as  a  thinker,  and  adds  elements 
of  dignity  to  his  mental  character  by  an  indulgence  in  the  better 
class  of  literary  productions.  He  is  a  reader  and  a  thinker  outside 
of  his  profession.  He  is  not  a  good  manager  in  the  sense  of  con- 
ducting the  financial  affairs  connected  with  his  professional  services, 
and  herein  he  is  most  admirably  complemented  by  one  of  his  partners, 
E.  B.  McCagg,  who  is  himself  a  lawyer  of  very  great  ability,  and 
who  is  a  close  business  man,  and  who  carefully  gathers  up  the 
raveled  financial  threads  which  are  upon  the  fringe  of  Mr.  Fuller's 
professional  actions.  These  two  men  are  admirably  adapted  to  each 
other.  Mr.  McCagg  has  a  very  thorough  knowledge  of  the  world, 
which  Mr.  Fuller  has  not ;  and  in  this,  as  in  various  other  ways,  he 
assists  in  giving  the  firm  a  roundness  and  completeness  of  great  per- 
fection. In  many  respects  he  contrasts  beneficially  with  Mr.  Fuller. 
He  is,  as  has  been  said,  practical  in  directions  where  the  other  dis- 
plays no  particular  ability;  he  is  a  close  business  man,  a  good  collec- 
tor, and  withal,  just  enough  cynical  to  relieve  the  unvarying  quietness 
and  unruffled  affability  of  the  other. 

Mr.  McCagg  is  also  a  noted  man  in  other  respects.  He  is  possessed 
of  great  wealth,  and  he  lives  in  a  style  whose  luxuriance  has  few  or  no 
equals  in  Chicago.  He  has  a  large  amount  of  public  spirit,  has  a 
great  number  of  very  excellent  qualities  whose  possession  secures  him 
a  universal  and  very  thorough  respect.  Mentally  he  is  in  no  respect 
the  inferior  of  Mr.  Fuller,  and  were  he  obliged  to  resort  to  the  more 
public  practice  of  his  profession  he  would  be  a  successful  advocate  as 
well  as  what  he  now  is,  a  sound  and  careful  lawyer.  The  two,  how- 
ever, pull  well  together,  and  while  both  have  an  abundance  of  positive 
qualities  in  a  high  order  of  excellence,  each  supplies  a  certain  class  of 
equally  desirable  qualities  which  the  other  lacks ;  or  presents  such  a 
combination  of  characteristics  that  each  modifies,  brings  out,  or  other- 
wise improves  those  of  the  other.  The  Hon.  J.  Y.  Scammon  is  still 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm,  and  while  now  giving  no  attention  to 
the  law,  he  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  lawyer  which  remains  to  him  as 
a  consequence  of  a  highly  successful  career.  Mr.  Scammon's  entire 
time  is  occupied  with  the  care  of  private  interests  which  are  enormous  ; 
but  his  reputation  as  a  superior  lawyer,  and  his  wealth,  social  conse- 
quence, and  extended  commercial  relations,  are  well  reflected  in  the 
firm  of  which  himself  and  McCagg  and  Fuller  are  members. 


ROBERT  HERVEY.  21 


ROBERT  HERVEY. 

MR.  HERVEY  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  in  1820,  and  was 
educated  at  the  grammer  school  and  university  of  the  same  city.  He 
graduated  in  1837,  and  studied  law  in  Toronto  with  Hon.  Henry 
Sherwood,  formerly  Attorney-General  of  Canada,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Canadian  bar  in  1842.  He  practiced  in  Ottawa,  Canada,  for  ten 
years,  and  in  1852  removed  to  Chicago,  and  was  the  partner  of  Judge 
Morris  until  1856. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Hervey  is  rather  distingut.  His  form 
is  medium  height,  very  erect  and  well  proportioned.  His  complexion 
is  fresh,  his  whiskers  are  gray  and  worn  in  the  English  fashion,  his 
hair  is  silvery,  his  head  well-shaped,  his  eyes  gray  and  keen,  and  the 
tout  ensemble  that  of  a  very  pronounced  Scotchman.  In  his  demeanor 
he  is  very  affable  and  courteous,  and  before  a  jury,  and  in  the  exami- 
nation of  a  witness,  as  well  as  in  his  treatment  of  opposing  counsel, 
he  is  always  gentlemanly  and  considerate.  He  is  regarded  as  well- 
posted  on  authorities,  and  a  very  competent  man,  whether  in  the  office 
or  before  a  jury.  He  is  industrious,  careful  of  the  interests  of  his 
clients,  and  conservative  in  his  mental  processes. 

In  his  oratory  he  is  dignified,  and  after  warming  up  he  becomes 
forcible,  but  never  robustious.  He  rises  to  a  certain  moderate  height, 
both  of  thought  and  declamation,  but  his  average  level  is  a  trifle  lower. 
When  under  full  pressure  as  a  speaker,  he  has  a  certain  mannerism, 
which  is  probably  the  result  of  habit,  and  is  not  the  outgrowth  or  the 
inspiration  of  his  thoughts.  He  then  buttons  his  coat  across  his  well- 
shaped  chest,  closes  his  eyes  as  if  in  a  rhapsody,  thrusts  one  hand 
into  his  bosom,  and  gracefully  emphasizes  with  the  other.  His  jury 
efforts  are  of  a  good  average  quality.  They  are  clear,  logical,  and 
always  given  with  effective  empressement. 

Socially,  Mr.  Hervey  is  quite  popular.  He  is  somewhat  Chester- 
fieldian  in  his  manners;  and,  on  the  streets  is  what,  in  a  younger  man, 
might  be  termed  nobby.  He  is  a  standing  model  of  a  polite,  court- 
eous gentleman,  and  as  such  he  is  very  generally  liked  by  the  mem- 
bers of  his  profession,  by  the  community  at  large,  and  the  more 
especially  among  his  Scotch  fellow-citizens,  by  whom  he  is  regarded 
as  a  leading  orator  and  a  representative  man. 


22  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


JAMES    M.   WALKER. 

IN  many  respects  Mr.  Walker  stands  at  the  very  head  of  the  legal 
profession  in  the  West.  This  refers  more  especially  to  the  magnitude 
of  the  interests  which  he  has  been  intrusted  with,  and  which  include 
some  of  the  largest  corporations  in  the  country.  His  reputation  may 
not  be  a  popular  one,  like  that  of  Charles  O'Conor,  or  James  Brady; 
but  among  great  moneyed  corporations,  and  in  directions  where 
acquaintance  is  fame,  and  esteem  a  fortune,  Mr.  Walker  is  both  known 
and  esteemed. 

He  was  born  in  Claremont,  N.  H.,  and  is  now  about  fifty  years  of 
age.  .  He  studied  law  at  Ann  Arbor,  in  Michigan,  and  began  the 
practice  of  law  at  that  point.  He  afterward  removed  to  another 
portion  of  Washtenaw  county,  in  the  same  State,  where  he  speedily 
secured  a  very  large  practice,  and  filled  the  office  of  prosecuting 
attorney.  He  removed  to  Chicago  in  1854,  at  which  time  he  was  the 
attorney  of  the  Michigan  Central  railway.  He  first  occupied  an 
office  with  James  M.  Joy,  and  later  formed  a  legal  connection  with 
Mr.  Sedgwick,  and  subsequently  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
Wirt  Dexter ;  and  soon  after  took  the  position  of  attorney  for  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  railway,  which  important  position 
he  still  holds,  and  it  may  be  added  that  he  is  to  the  Burlington  and 
Quincy  railway  company  what  Joy  is  to  the  Michigan  Central  — 
a  very  king. 

In  personal  appearance  he  is  slender,  of  medium  height,  with  a 
small,  active  brain,  gray  eyes,  and  gray  hair  and  goatee.  His  coun- 
tenance bears  the  evidence  of  a  laborious  life.  He  evidently  has  more 
soul  than  body,  and  all  his  life  has  overdriven  the  latter  in  order  to 
execute  the  demands  of  the  former.  In  manner  he  is  rather  abstracted 
and  reticent,  and  goes  about  wrapped  in  a  species  of  semi-isolation. 
This  is  not  so  much  the  result  of  coldness  as  of  the  preoccupation  of 
thought. 

As  a  lawyer  he  occupies  a  very  conspicuous  position.  His  forte 
lies  in  the  mastering  of  the  great  problems  connected  with  corpora- 
tions ;  and  in  this  direction  he  has  been  eminently  successful.  Before 


JAMES    M.    WALKER.  23 

a  jury  or  a  court  he  does  not  occupy  so  elevated  a  grade,  for  several 
reasons,  among  which  is  prominent  the  fact  that  a  man  who  devotes 
his  entire  energies  to  the  mastery  of  great  problems  has  not  the  leisure 
to  cultivate  the  graces  and  blandishments  of  oratory.  Another  reason 
is  possibly  found  in  the  additional  fact  that,  as  is  not  uncommon  with 
hard  students  like  himself,  he  is  very  pertinacious  when  he  has  once 
formed  a  conclusion,  and  is  very  apt  to  insist  that  juries  and  others 
shall  see  the  matter  at  issue  in  the  same  light.  This  trait  is  conviction 
and  something  more.  It  is  rather  a  positive  belief  that  admits  of  no 
contradiction,  and  is  not  disposed  to  accept  a  difference  of  opinion. 
He  devotes  so  much  time  and  strength  to  the  examination  of  a  question 
that  he  believes  his  conclusions  are  not  simple  convictions,  but  they 
are  absolute  axioms  which  must  not  and  cannot  be  disputed. 

Among  other  of  his  traits  his  industry  is  not  the  least  remarkable. 
When  he  once  takes  hold  of  a  question  of  importance,  it  becomes  an 
absorbing  one,  and  to  its  solution  he  gives  every  energy.  Nature, 
time,  labor,  pain  are  nothing.  He  hesitates  at  no  sacrifice,  and  pushes 
his  investigations  till  he  either  reaches  their  solution  or  his  health 
gives  way  under  the  exertion.  Two  or  three  times  in  his  life  has  he 
thus  driven  himself  to  the  verge  of  the  grave  by  his  persistence  in  labor 
long  after  labor  had  ceased  to  be  a  duty  or  a  virtue.  Apart  from  his 
professional  duties  he  is  gentlemanly  and  considerate.  His  reading  is 
extensive.  He  has  a  very  exquisite  taste  in  fine  art ;  his  benevolence 
is  very  great ;  and  his  general  information  of  an  extended  character. 
What  he  lacks  is  more  regard  for  himself,  and  a  more  leisurely  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  his  profession.  Were  this  defect  remedied, 
he  would  be  no  less  successful  than  he  is  and  has  been,  while  he 
would  enjoy  that  physical  energy  and  elasticity  without  which  any 
existence  is  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory. 


24  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 


LEONARD    SWETT. 


Mr.  SWETT  was  born  in  Oxford,  Maine,  in  1825.  He  graduated  at 
Waterville,  and  read  law  at  Portland,  after  which  he  entered  the  army 
and  served  as  a  private  during  the  Mexican  war.  He  removed  to 
Bloomington,  in  this  State,  in  1849,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  the 
same  year.  At  one  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  has 
been  prominently  before  the  public  in  other  capacities.  He  removed 
to  Chicago  in  1865,  and  has  since  resided  in  this  city. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Swett  very  much  resembles  the  late 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  is  tall,  angular,  dark,  with  prominent  features, 
and  in  fact  he  so  generally  resembles  the  late  Mr.  Lincoln  that  any 
detailed  description  of  him  would  be  useless.  This  coincidence  with 
respect  to  physical  similitude  extends  in  a  considerable  degree  to  the 
mental  characteristics  of  the  two  men.  Mr.  Swett  is  more  polished 
than  was  his  antetype ;  he  is  more  finished,  but  this  makes  the  differ- 
ence between  them  one  of- degree  rather  than  of  kind.  He  possesses 
the  same  class  of  humor  peculiar  to  the  late  President,  and  often 
employs  the  same  quaint,  epigramatic  method  of  expression  which 
was  peculiar  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  so  familiar  to  the  man.  Of  course, 
these  resemblances  are  mere  happenings.  Neither  Mr.  Lincoln  nor 
Mr.  Swett  made  a  study  of  each  other  with  a  view  to  imitation.  Nor 
is  their  anything  strange  in  the  coincidence.  When  one  considers 
how  many  men  there  are  born  every  year,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  two 
men  are  found  who  closely  resemble  each  other,  but  that  there  are  so 
many  varieties  in  the  workmanship. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Swett  takes  a  very  high  rank,  both  in  Chicago 
and  the  State.  In  his  professional  character  he  possesses  a  fair  allow- 
ance of  versatility,  but  his  special  excellencies  lie  in  the  direction  of 
the  trial  of  cases,  and,  possibly,  in  the  handling  of  criminal  business. 
He  has  a  very  clear,  analytical  mind,  and  a  very  comprehensive  view 
of  a  subject,  and  is,  therefore,  in  this  respect  well  fitted  for  office 
business.  But  his  tendencies  seem  to  be  in  the  direction  of  the  trial 
of  cases,  for  the  reason,  perhaps,  that  office  business  brings  into  activity 
few  or  none  of  the  emotional  qualities  of  the  soul.  Mr.  Swett  has 


LEONARD    SWETT.  25 

imagination,  humor,  pathos,  and  an  abundance  of  similar  qualities 
whose  exercise  is  as  essential  to  his  enjoyment  as  the  use  of  his  muscles 
is  to  a  strong,  vigorous  man.  It  requires  a  mind  from  which  the 
warmer  qualities  have  been  eliminated,  and  a  mechanism  which  has 
been  reduced  to  a  mathematical  variety  of  construction,  to  produce  a 
lawyer  who  will  prefer  the  investigation  of  dry  authorities  to  the 
warmth,  the  poetry,  the  excitement,  the  elasticity,  the  cunning  of  a 
trial.  Mr.  Swett  is  an  orator ;  and  in  this  fact  is  found  the  explana- 
tion of  his  preference. 

As  a  speaker  he  has  few  or- no  superiors  at  the  bar.  He  requires 
scarcely  any  preparation  to  make  a  speech  on  any  subject.  He  sees  a 
case  clearly,  and  he  has  the  faculty  of  presenting  it  with  equal  clear- 
ness. He  presents  it  forcibly  because  he  feels  intensely.  He  has  that 
tendency  toward  amplification  found  in  all  true  orators,  and  by  whose 
aid  he  presents  a  single  point  in  so  many  salient  aspects  that  it  becomes 
as  apparent  as  sunlight  to  his  auditory.  This  ability  to  not  only  clearly 
present  a  point,  but  to  restate  it  and  reiterate  it  under  a  slightly 
changed  form  up  to  a  boundary  where  it  becomes  thoroughly  under- 
stood, and  yet  which  is  not  carried  beyond  into  the  region  of  verbosity 
and  tiresome  and  useless  reiteration  —  is  one  of  a  high  order,  and  it  is 
one  which  Mr.  Swett  seems  to  possess  to  perfection.  Its  due  and 
judicious  exercise  requires  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  men  whom 
it  is  employed  upon,  and  the  precise  ideas  and  illustrations  which  are 
demanded  by  their  comprehension.  Mr.  Swett  has  all  these  qualities, 
and  the  additional  one  of  being  an  excellent  logician  and  an  admirable 
manager,  who  thus  not  only  knows  what  should  be  presented,  but  the 
very  best  form  in  which  the  presentation  should  be  made. 

Possibly  the  not  least  remarkable  feature  of  his  oratorical  power  is 
found  in  his  ability  to  employ  pathos.  Herein,  when  the  occasion 
requires,  he  rises  to  a  most  effective  level.  He  is  both  rhetorical  and 
natural  in  this  direction — the  former  being,  to  some  extent,  a  sequence 
to  the  latter,  in  that  he  feels  what  he  says,  and  therein,  as  usually 
happens,  is  eloquent.  He  is  exceedingly  happy  in  the  vise  of  this 
powerful  element.  When  in  this  mood  he  smites  the  rock  of  men's 
hidden  emotions,  and  obediently,  as  in  the  case  of  Moses,  the  waters 
gush  forth  in  response  to  the  summons.  From  the  possession  of  this 
subtle  power  to  touch  effectively  men's  emotional  natures,  Mr.  Swett 
has  what  the  world  would  suspect  from  seeing  him,  and  that  is,  a 
powerful  element  of  poetry  in  his  character.  This  is  true ;  and  its 
existence  is  not  only  the  source  of  his  power  to  touch  the  hearts  of 


26  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

others,  but  it  refines  his  nature,  and  gives  him  a  chivalry  that  exhibits 
itself  in  a  lofty  regard  for  women,  an  integrity  in  business  matters  that 
can  not  be  disturbed,  and  a  kindly  consideration  that  leavens  all  his 
intercourse  with  others.  In  fine,  the  poetical  quality,  while  it  intro- 
duces no  element  of  effeminacy  in  his  character,  while  it  does  not 
detract  from  his  masculine  vigor,  or  interfere  with  his  comprehensive 
ability,  softens  his  naturally  rugged  make-up,  and  gives  him  a  needed 
and  efficient  refinement.  In  short,  Mr.  Swett  is  a  gentleman  who,  as 
a  lawyer,  and  more  especially  in  the  labor  of  conducting  the  trial  of 
a  case,  occupies  a  very  high  and  a  very  enviable  position. 


JOHN    VAN    ARMAN.  27 


JOHN  VAN  ARMAN. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Plattsburgh,  New  York,  in  about 
1818.  He  removed  thence  to  Marshall,  Michigan,  and  there  began 
the  practice  of  law.  In  1859  he  removed  to  Chicago. 

He  first  obtained  prominence  some  years  ago  in  Michigan  at  the 
time  of  the  notorious  conspiracy  against  the  Michigan  Central  rail- 
way. He  was  employed  by  the  company  to  work  up  the  case,  and 
to  assist  in  its  prosecution.  He  went  to  work  and  got  into  the  confi- 
dence of  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  joined  the  organization,  shared 
in  their  councils  and  plans,  and  in  this  way  possessed  himself  of  all 
the  secrets  of  the  conspirators.  At  the  time  of  trial,  he  assisted  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  case,  and  alternated  his  duties  in  this  direction 
by  taking  the  stand  as  a  witness  for  the  State. 

Since  his  residence  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Van  Arman  has  taken  a 
quite  prominent  position  as  a  criminal  lawyer.  He  is  a  man  of  very 
marked  personal  appearance,  and  of  equally  marked  personal  charac- 
teristics. He  is  of  slender  build,  slightly  round-shouldered,  and  of 
medium  height.  His  head  is  small  and  narrow,  indicating  more 
force  than  comprehensive  breadth.  His  eyes  are  small,  black,  glit- 
tering, and  cunning  in  expression.  His  lower  jaw  is  immense  in 
breadth,  and  heavily  armored  with  a  convolute  skin.  His  clean- 
shaven face  is  of  a  swarthy  hue,  which,  with  his  small  eyes,  high 
cheek-bones,  and  stoical  expression,  gives  him  the  appearance  of  an 
Indian  parentage.  His  mouth  is  large,  with  heavy  lips,  and  is  occa- 
sionally parted  in  a  smile  which  reveals  rows  of  uneven  teeth. 

Mentally,  he  is  sui  generis.  He  is,  perhaps,  not  an  originator, 
but  he  seizes  with  instantaneous  appreciation  anything  which  may  be 
found  by  others ;  and  when  he  once  closes  upon  anything,  his  bull- 
dog nature  never  lets  it  go.  To  speak  in  the  style  of  the  aborigines 
whom  he  so  closely  resembles,  he  can  not  often  find  a  trail  himself, 
but  let  it  once  be  pointed  out  to  him,  and  he  will  never  lose  it,  or 
cease  to  follow  it  till  the  prey  is  overtaken. 

It  is  doubtful  that  his  veins  run  with  warm  blood.  He  is  cold 
and  passionless.  His  mental  qualities  may  glisten,  but  it  is  not  from 


28  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

the  sheen  of  a  flame,  but  from  the  reflection  of  icy  surfaces.  His 
intellect  is  clear,  finely  finished  but  frosty.  His  voice  is  dry  and 
metallic,  and  his  utterances  before  a  jury  are  often  venomous,  always 
pointed  and  strong,  but  never  warm  or  genial.  Thawing  the  sympa- 
thies of  a  jury  is  something  that  he  never  attempted,  nor  would  he 
know  how  to  do  it  if  he  wished. 

This  glacial  mechanism  of  his  soul  is  never  out  of  repair  or  work- 
ing order.  It  has  all  the  lubricity  of  ice,  and  moves  powerfully,  and 
without  noise  or  friction.  To  these  qualities  he  adds  an  industry  in  fol- 
lowing up  a  case  that  never  tires,  that  goes  over  a  subject,  no  matter 
how  vast,  and  omits  no  details,  however  numerous  they  maybe  or 
how  microscopic.  The  law,  the  facts,  the  circumstances  of  a  case, 
are  each,  in  turn,  made  the  subject  of  an  examination  that  leaves 
nothing  untouched,  and  hesitates  at  no  labor  or  time  which  may  be 
necessary  to  secure  the  investigation.  He  is  a  man  that  rarely  laughs, 
and  whose  smile  is  not  a  smile,  but  a  drawing  back  of  the  lips  to 
show  his  teeth.  He  is  a  giant  in  industry,  a  Colossus  in  his  patience, 
has  indefatigable  energy,  is  unrelenting  in  his  stealthy  and  untiring 
pursuit  of  an  enemy.  Give  him  an  end,  and  if  patience,  perseverance 
and  industry  can  attain  it,  he  will  reach  it ;  but  it  is  a  question  as  to 
his  ability  to  provide  a  new  plan  in  case  his  designed  one  be  ruined. 
It  is  said  by  Judge  Wilson  that  no  man  in  Chicago  is  quicker  than  he 
to  adapt  himself  to  a  sudden  and  unexpected  change  of  circum- 
stances. In  any  case,  he  is  a  very  marked  man  —  one  whose  great 
ability,  coldness  of  nature,  and  success  in  his  efforts,  leave  him  with 
scarcely  a  rival. 

With  more  warmth,  more  kindliness,  he  would  take  a  high 
position  in  the  world  of  legal  and  moral  efforts. 


JOHN    N.    JEWETT.  29 


JOHN   N.  JEWETT. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Maine.  While  very  young,  he  re- 
moved to  Wisconsin,  but  returned  East,  and  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College.  He  afterward  came  -West  again,  and  read  law  at  Galena. 
In  1857  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  formed  a  partnership  with 
Scates  &  McAllister. 

Mr.  Jewett  is  a  gentleman  of  about  forty-two  years  of  age, 
although  he  looks  five  years  younger.  His  hair  is  brown,  and  his 
beard  the  same.  He  is  of  medium  height,  slim,  active,  and  well  put 
together.  He  has  keen,  blue,  very  handsome  eyes,  and  which  are 
indicative,  in  many  respects,  of  his  character.  His  features  are  small, 
regular  and  attractive.  His  head  is  also  small,  but  is  filled  with  a 
brain  of  great  activity.  Intellectually,  he  is  keen,  sharp,  quick. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  is  a  general  practitioner —  is  at  home  almost  every- 
where. He  has  himself  always  well  in  hand,  and  like  a  battery  of 
light  artillery,  is  always  ready  for  attack  or  defense,  or  a  change  of 
position.  His  resources  are  always  within  reach.  His  mind  is  clear 
and  incisive.  Wrhile  mild  in  conversation  and  oral  argument,  in 
writing  he  is  pungent,  severe  and  sarcastic,  so  much  so  that  he  has 
often  reached  the  verge  of  toleration  in  his  arguments  before  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  is  logical  and  strong,  and  his  analytical  powers 
are  very  great.  His  integrity  is  undoubted,  and  he  is  rigidly  honest, 
not  only  with  reference  to  himself,  but  his  client  and  the  opposing 
counsel.  He  is  not  rough  or  uncouth  in  his  contact  with  others, 
with  the  exceptions  above  noted,  but  he  has  a  manner  which,  while 
not  being  in  the  least  effeminate,  is  almost  womanly  in  its  gentleness. 
His  speeches  are  in  keeping  with  his  appearance  —  easy,  fluent,  grace- 
ful, deliberate  and  intellectual.  He  is  ornate  without  being  either 
florid  or  commonplace.  What  he  has  to  say  he  says  tersely,  and  in 
an  attractive,  forcible  manner.  As  said,  he  is  rather  better  in  the 
office  than  before  a  jury,  for  the  reason  that  he  is  painstaking,  indus- 
trious and  conscientious.  Possibly  there  are  few  lawyers  of  his  age 
who  stand  as  well  as  he,  or  whose  prospects  are  more  promising.  At 
present  he  is  attorney  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railway.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  State  Senate,  the  only  public  office  he  has  ever  filled. 


30  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


H.  G.  MILLER. 

MR.  MILLER  is  about  fifty-five  years  of  age,  and  in  personal  ap- 
pearance he  is  quite  marked,  and  rather  distingue,  both  in  his  appear- 
ance and  demeanor.  He  is  tall,  well-proportioned,  and  very  erect, 
with  a  somewhat  stately  bearing.  His  features  are  regular;  his  eyes 
blue,  full  and  expressive ;  his  forehead  high  and  pyramidal ;  his  hair 
gray,  abundant,  and  thrown  directly  back.  His  mouth  is  small,  and 
indicates  a  character  of  a  good  deal  of  resolution.  The  whole  ex- 
pression of  his  face  is  rather  kindly,  and  withal  dignified. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  is  very  much  respected  by  the  profession.  He  is 
a  man  who,  without  being  a  profound  legal  scholar  —  albeit,  a  very 
excellent  one  —  attains  ends  by  his  patient  industry  which  men  with 
a  greater  knowledge  might  fail  to  reach.  His  industry  is  one  of  the 
most  important  elements  in  his  character,  for  the  reason  that  by  its 
aid  he  does  many  things  which  men  more  gifted  by  nature  than  him- 
self do  not  often  accomplish.  He  never  reaches  anything  by  flying 
to  it,  or  by  miraculous  leaps.  Whatever  he  attains  he  does  by  slow, 
patient,  plodding,  persistent  effort.  In  some  respects,  he  is  an  intel- 
lectual tortoise,  who,  like  the  one  in  the  fable,  not  unfrequently 
reaches  the  goal  far  in  advance  of  swifter-footed  competitors.  He 
is  a  man  whose  preparation  of  a  case  may  be  relied  on  as  complete, 
thorough,  exhaustive,  providing  it  can  be  done  by  unremitting  and 
pains-taking  effort. 

As  a  speaker,  he  makes  no  pretensions  to  a  high  order  of  elocution. 
He  speaks  more  effectively  to  a  judge  than  a  jury.  He  has  not  a 
particle  of  imagination ;  and  what  is  singular  in  this  connection,  is 
that  in  his  speeches  he  sometimes  essays  the  humorous.  His  grave 
mien,  judicial  deportment,  slow-and-sure  order  of  mental  processes, 
form  a  combination  from  which  one  would  suppose  all  ideas  of  the 
mirthful  would  be  necessarily  excluded.  There  is  another  inconsis- 
tency in  his  character,  which  this  fact  suggests.  It  is  that,  although 
patterned  after  the  heavy  artillery  style,  he  is  able  to  shift  his  position 
with  considerable  ease  and  speed,  to  meet  an  attack  from  an  unex- 
pected quarter.  In  meteorological  parlance,  he  is  weather-wise.  He 


H.    G.    MILLER.  31 

reads  the  skies  which  surround  a  case  with  great  precision.  He 
knows  what  a  small  cloud,  or  a  change  in  the  wind  portends,  and  he 
is  prompt  in  knowing  what  should  be  done  to  meet  the  forthcoming 
change.  Heavy,  and  somewhat  cumbersome  in  his  mental  opera- 
tions, he  yet  possesses  a  surprising  agility,  when  there  occurs  a  sud- 
den and  pressing  demand,  for  a  shifting  of  position. 

A  faithful  analysis  of  Mr.  Miller's  character  necessitates  the  state- 
ment that  he  does  well  whatever  he  undertakes,  but  that  he  would 
have  done  just  as  well  in  in  any  other  department  of  effort.  Nature 
does  not  seem  to  have  especially  intended  him  for  a  lawyer.  Had  he 
been  a  wood-sawyer,  he  would  have  been  just  as  patient,  industrious, 
indefatigable,  and  gentlemanly  in  his  manners  as  he  now  is.  There 
are  lawyers  whom  one  could  not  imagine  filling  any  other  position, 
without  their  being  out  of  place.  In  the  case  of  Mr.  Miller,  it  does 
not  seem  possible  to  imagine  him  in  any  position  that  he  would  not 
fill  just  as  well  as  the  one  he  now  occupies.  He  would  have  made  a 
stately  and  efficient  President  of  a  bank,  or  Superintendent  of  a  rail- 
way, or  diplomatist  at  some  fpreign  court,  or  judge  upon  the  bench, 
and  in  each  instance  he  would  have  been  just  as  stately  and  efficient 
as  he  is  now  in  his  position  as  a  lawyer,  and  as  a  very  respected  and 
very  estimable  member  of  the  bar  of  the  Garden  City. 


32  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


VAN  H.  HIGGINS. 

THIS  gentlemen,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  of  the  Chicago 
bar,  is  now  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Genesee  county, 
New  York.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1839,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Iroquois  county.  He  went  to  Galena  in  1845,  and  practiced 
there  with  Judge  Scott  until  1853,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and 
has  always  since  been  a  resident.  In  the  fall  of  1858  he  was  sent  to 
the  Legislature,  and  the  following  spring  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court.  He  served  until  the  year  1863,  when  he  resigned, 
and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  with  Leonard  Swett,  his  present 
partner. 

In  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Higgirjs  has  a  fine  natural  judicial 
presence.  He  is  tall,  well-formed,  and  of  rather  a  commanding  fig- 
ure. His  eyes  are  light-blue  and  deep-set,  his  complexion  clear,  and 
his  forehead  a  regular  three-story  structure.  His  hair  is  tinged  with 
gray,  and  his  mouth  is  compressed  and  secretive.  His  entire  face  is 
sensitive,  and  yet  it  shadows  forth  indications  of  a  character  that 
may  be  iron-willed  in  case  of  necessity,  and  that  may  be  or  is,  dog- 
matic and  resolute  under  the  majority  of  circumstances.  In  fine, 
this  gentleman  is  one  whom  a  stranger  would  regard  as  a  man  of  fine 
appearance  and  great  intelligence,  while  a  muscular  opponent  would 
do  no  more  than  right  if  he  hesitated  somewhat  before  grappling  with 
his  erect,  well-knit  and  stalwart  frame. 

The  ability  of  Mr.  Higgins  as  a  lawyer,  is  not  susceptible  of  a 
difference  of  opinion.  Before  he  was  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
his  practice  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  lucrative  in  the  city. 
Since  that  time  he  has  attended  more  or  less  to  legal  matters,  but  is 
not  as  active  in  his  profession  as  he  was  before  he  went  upon  the 
bench,  for  the  reason  that  he  has  very  extended  private  interests  of 
his  own  to  attend  to. 

His  head,  which  is  that  of  a  man  of  intellect,  is  additionally,  in 
this  direction,  indicative  of  mechanical  and  mathematical  tendencies. 
He  is  an  inventor  of  no  mean  rank,  and  has  several  patents  on  orig- 
inal inventions  or  improvements.  He  is  a  fine  theoretical  as  well  as 


VAN    H.    HIGGINS.  33 

practical  mechanician,  and  his  judgment  upon  the  merits  of  any  new 
mechanical  discovery  is  equal  to  that  of  the  best  practical  mechanic 
in  the  West.  Whether  he  is  now  the  more  lawyer  or  inventor  is  a 
nice  question.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  his  love  for  mechanical 
pursuits  has  grown  almost  to  a  mania;  and  that  it  absorbs  a  large 
share  of  his  time,  so  that  a  biographical  sketch  of  him  would  quite 
as  properly  belong  to  the  Mechanics  as  the  Lawyers  of  Chicago. 

His  style  in  the  workshop  is  not  pertinent  to  this  article,  although 
it  would  doubtless  be  of  great  interest.  In  his  other  capacity  he  is 
dignified,  copious,  and  ponderous  and  incessant  in  his  citations 
When  he  appears  in  court  he  carries  always  both  arms  full  of  law 
books,  and  has  a  porter  who  is  heavily  laden  with  the  same  material. 
His  objections  are  frequent,  and  when  arguing  them  he  rises,  and 
with  his  eyes  fixed  dreamily  above  the  judge's  head,  he  proceeds  in  a 
calm,  self-possessed,  unimpassioned  manner  to  state  his  objections, 
and  to  present  his  authorities.  He  is  an  epitome  of  all  the  decisions 
that  have  ever  been  written,  and  what  few  he  does  not  remember,  he 
refers  to  readily,  and  reads  in  extenso.  His  quotations  of  authorities 
bearing  on  any  point  are  only  limited  by  one  thing  —  the  limits  of 
the  authorities  themselves. 

Judge  Van  Higgins  is  very  generally  respected,  and  is  a  man  of 
fine  intellect,  great  cultivation,  and  the  possessor  of  many  substantial 
qualities,  both  of  heart  and  soul.  The  only  doubt  with  the  present 
writer  is  as  to  whether  or  not  he  should  be  classed  as  an  inventor  who 
is  spoiling  a  good  lawyer,  or  as  a  lawyer  who  is  interfering  with  the 
progress  of  a  superior  inventor. 


34  'I'HE  CHICAGO  BAR. 


CHARLES  CARROLL  BONNEY. 

THIS  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Hamilton,  New  York,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  places  in  the  Chenango  Valley,  and  widely  known  as 
the  seat  of  Madison  University.  He  spent  his  childhood  on  his 
father's  farm  on  Bonney  Hill,  where  his  habits  of  thought  were  formed, 
and  his  ambition  stimulated  by  meeting,  among  other  visitors  at  his 
father's  house,  students  from  the  University ;  and  the  prominent  poli- 
ticians, lawyers  and  divines  of  the  locality. 

When  about  seventeen  years  of  age  he  commenced  teaching,  and 
began  the  study  of  the  law.  He  continued  to  teach  district  and 
academic  schools,  and  to  pursue  the  study  of  his  chosen  profession 
until  nearly  ready  for  admission  to  the  bar. 

He  removed  to  Illinois  in  1850;  located  at  Peoria;  established  an 
academic  school  called  the  Peoria  Institute ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one ;  commenced  practice  in  the  office  of  Judge 
Onslow  Peters;  and  continued  a  successful  general  practice  till  1860, 
when  he  removed  to  Chicago. 

During  his  residence  in  Peoria  the  bar  of  Central  Illinois,  led  by 
Purple  and  Manning,  was  one  of  the  ablest  in  the  West ;  and  the 
practice  thorough  and  exacting. 

Since  being  a  resident  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Bonney,  until  quite  lately, 
has  been  very  prominently  before  the  State  in  some  public  capacity. 
In  connection  with  Gov.  French,  Prof.  Turner,  Judge  Skinner,  and 
some  other  noted  gentlemen,  he  was  active  and  prominent  in  estab- 
lishing the  present  educational  system  of  Illinois.  Since  1854  he  has 
advocated  a  convention  to  secure  uniformity  of  the  statutes  "of  the 
several  States  in  relation  to  negotiable  paper,  conveyances,  etc.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  to  advocate  in  speeches  and  letters  the  constitu- 
tional prohibition  of  special  legislation;  and,  some  years  before  the 
war,  procured  the  passage  of  resolutions  in  popular  conventions  in 
favor  of  a  national  currency,  under  a  national  law,  in  place  of  a  wild- 
cat system  of  State  banks. 

In  1857  he  took  a  leading  part  in  defeating  the  project  of  giving 
to  a  private  corporation  the  control  of  the  Illinois  river ;  and  he  was 


CHARLES  CARROLL  BONNEY.  35 

engaged  in  some  of  the  earlier  cases  on  municipal  subscriptions  to 
railroads,  taking  the  ground  that  they  were  unconstitutional.  Since 
1 86 1  he  has  repeatedly  advocated  commissioners  to  represent  the 
people,  as  to  railroad  and  other  private  corporations,  with  summary 
judicial  determination  of  questions  concerning  their  respective  rights 
and  duties.  It  was  he  who  first  raised  and  argued  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  excise  tax  on  judicial  process,  and  other  State  proceed- 
ings. He  was  also  the  first  who  stated  the  powers  of  the  courts 
under  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus^  and  presented  the  view 
which  was  reproduced  two  years  later  by  Mr.  Binney,  of  Philadelphia. 

In  his  politics  Mr.  Bonney  is  a  democrat,  and  he  was  very  active 
in  this  direction,  both  as  a  speaker  and  a  writer,  until  he  left  Peoria 
and  removed  to  Chicago,  since  which  he  has  given  up  all  active  par- 
ticipation in  political  matters. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Bonney  has  a  wide  reputation,  his  character  as 
an  advocate,  and  his  legal  writings,  having  frequently  been  the  subject 
of  favorable  comment,  in  the  public  press  of  this,  and  of  other  States. 
He  is  a  general  practitioner,  with  a  fondness  for  the  specialties  in- 
volved in  inter-State  law,  and  the  legal  relations  connected  with  real 
estate,  patents,  and  private  corporations. 

His  preference  seems  to  be  for  probate  and  equity  business,  rather 
than  that  of  the  common  law,  and  it  may  be  added  that,  though  skilled 
in  arts  of  pleading  and  practice,  he  is  a  lawyer  whose  tendency  is 
toward  settlement  rather  than  litigation.  He  is  an  author  of  some 
note,  having  written  and  published  a  treatise  on  the  Law  of  Railway 
Carriers ;  another  on  the  Law  of  Marine,  Fire  and  Life  Insurance  ; 
and  has  works  on  several  other  subjects  in  course  of  preparation.  He 
also  edited,  in  a  very  finished  and  scholarly  manner,  the  poetical  works 
of  the  late  Judge  Arrington.  His  published  addresses  embrace  ora- 
tions on  Freemasonry,  and  a  variety  of  educational,  political  and  legal 
subjects;  and  he  is  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  public  press  of  articles 
of  a  legal,  financial,  and  literary  nature. 

Mr.  Bonney's  versatility  is  thus  shown  to  be  very  great.  A  lover 
of  his  profession,  he  has  acquired  a  competence  by  its  practice,  and 
has  for  it  a  devotion  that  finds  its  equal  in  the  case  of  but  few  of  the 
legal  fraternity  in  the  West.  He  is  industrious  in  the  extreme,  and, 
although  laboring  hard  as  a  lawyer,  he  yet  finds  time  to  cultivate 
literature,  and  to  inform  himself  thoroughly  concerning  all  the  cur- 
rent questions  of  the  day.  In  age  he  is  about  forty  years,  and  in 
personal  appearance  he  bears  the  marks  of  hard  study,  although  he 


.36  THK    CHICAGO    RAR. 

finds  leisure  to  be  courteous  in  his  demeanor  and  affable  in  his  con- 
versation. His  present  associates  are  J.  Edwards  Fay  and  Charles 
W.  Griggs,  who  occupy  a  leading  position  among  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  Chicago  bar. 

In  style  Mr.  Bonney  is  precise,  incisive  and  clear,  and  withal  a 
ready  if  not  a  redundant  speaker,  writer  and  conversationalist.  His 
political  speeches  demonstrated  the  possession  of  an  impassioned 
oratory,  based  upon  a  clear  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the 
issues  involved,  and  their  germane  facts.  In  the  character  of  a  poli- 
tician, no  speaker  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  was  more  popular 
or  more  influential;  and  had  he  devoted  himself  to  this  department 
of  effort,  he  might  have  attained  almost  anything  within  the  gift  of 
the  people. 

Mr.  Bonney  is  a  Swedenborgian  in  religion,  is  very  active  in  his 
connection  with  Sabbath-schools,  and  has  published  a  small  pamphlet 
on  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible.  He  is  a  Freemason  of  the  rank 
of  Knight  Templar;  and  some  years  ago  he  received  from  the  Ma- 
sonic University  of  Kentucky  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

He  is  domestic  in  his  habits,  and  likes  to  gather  about  his  fireside 
a  congenial  company  for  the  elaboration  of  literary  ideas,  and  the 
more  graceful  of  the  social  qualities.  A  widely  known  and  respe'cted 
literary  club  is  identified  with  his  name;  and  he  finds  in  literature  a 
delightful  recreation  from  the  exhausting  labors  of  professional  life. 

Although  yet  comparatively  a  young  man  he  has  already  attained 
an  enviable  position  as  a  lawyer,  and  author,  and  litterateur,  and  he 
has  before  him  a  future  which  promises  still  more  flattering  and 
enviable  results. 


CHARLES    HITCHCOCK.  37 


CHARLES    HITCHCOCK. 

MR.  HITCHCOCK  was  born  in  Plymouth  county,  Massachusetts, 
in  1827,  and  is  consequently  now  about  forty-five  years  of  age.  He 
was  educated  in  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  and  graduated  at  that 
place  in  1851.  He  took  the  law  course  at  the  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity, graduated  in  1854,  and  came  West,  and  has  resided  here,  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession,  ever  since. 
Within  the  time  of  his  residence  here,  he  has  advanced  himself  to 
the  front  rank  of  the  legal  fraternity. 

A  stranger  would  scarcely  take  him  to  be  a  professional  man.  He 
is  rather  one  who  would  be  regarded  as  a  moderate  bon  vivant,  who 
has  but  little  in  life  to  trouble  him,  and  who  is  in  the  enjoyment  of 
an  ample  fortune.  He  is  tall,  has  a  large,  portly  figure,  and  is  what 
would  be  termed  an  imposing,  fine-looking  gentleman.  His  face  is 
not  particularly  indicative  of  intellect.  His  eyes  are  gray,  and  rather 
sleepy  in  expression,  and  his  countenance  promises  latent  rather  than 
an  active,  belligerent  energy.  His  hair  and  whiskers  are  gray,  and 
his  forehead  receives  additional  height  and  expression  from  a  slight 
premature  baldness.  Take  him  as  he  sits,  and  he  seems  a  large  kind 
of  a  locomotive,  with  powerful  stroke  and  high  driving-wheels,  but 
with  the  steam  low  and  the  fire  smoldering.  One  would  conclude 
that  all  he  needs  to  achieve  great  speed  and  vast  power  is  firing  up. 
There  are  men  whose  nervous  temperament  keeps  them  in  perpetual 
motion,  whether  there  is  any  demand  for  it  or  not.  He,  however, 
seems  to  be  a  sort  of  animal  that  has  his  seasons  of  hibernation,  when 
he  is  torpid,  and  when  he  seems  to  be  undergoing  no  other  process 
than  that  of  digesting  his  over-accumulated  adipose  matter. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Hitchcock  is  among  the  best  known  and 
esteemed  in  the  Northwest.  His  ability  in  this  direction  is  not 
marked  in  any  one  direction  at  the  expense  of  any  other.  He  is  not 
one  of  those  men  in  whom  some  particular  quality  enlarges  by  feed- 
ing upon  others.  Thus  it  happens  that,  in  mental  character,  social 
abilities  and  morals,  he  has  undergone  a  remarkably  even  develop- 
ment. The  same  evenness  is  exhibited  in  his  professional  character. 


38  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

He  has,  apparently,  no  specialty.  He  is  equally  good,  and  equally 
to  be  trusted,  whether  he  be  employed  in  chancery  or  admiralty,  or 
as  an  advocate  or  a  counsellor.  He  has,  therefore,  a  very  marked 
and  unusual  versatility,  which  seems  to  extend  to  every  legitimate 
department  of  effort  in  his  profession,  and  to  a  very  thorough  and 
even  knowledge  of  men  and  things  outside  of  it. 

This  universal  evenness  is  disarranged  somewhat  in  the  surface 
of  his  professional  character.  While  a  very  excellent  advocate,  he  is 
not  as  good  in  this  respect  as  he  is  as  an  attorney.  His  opinion  in 
his  office  on  the  legal  and  other  merits  of  a  case  is  worth  a  certain 
number  of  dollars  more  than  an  address  on  the  same  matter  before 
a  jury.  This  is  not  because  he  is  not  a  logical  and  thoroughly  intelli- 
gent speaker,  but  it  is  because  he  is  more  of  a  logician  than  an  orator. 
He  argues  well ;  but  his  argument  lacks  that  divine  fire  which  fuses 
the  facts  of  a  discourse  irrevocably  into  the  mind  of  a  listener.  He 
is  not  an  unpleasant  speaker.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  what  is  popu- 
larly known  as  a  fine  speaker.  He  has  a  clear  voice,  an  imposing 
presence,  and  a  graceful  style.  He,  however,  lacks  imagination.  He 
has  no  emotional  development.  He  addresses  the  reason  and  never 
the  feelings  of  a  jury.  He  is  cold  and  phlegmatic,  and  his  speeches 
to  a  jury  are  like  himself  in  this  respect.  He  seems  incapable  of 
experiencing  any  of  the  more  powerful  emotions,  and  equally  incapa- 
ble of  influencing  in  others  these  important  elements  in  the  human 
soul. 

As  the  attorney  needs  no  imagination,  as  its  presence  would  be 
rather  a  hindrance  and  a  nuisance  than  otherwise,  the  lack  of  it  by 
Mr.  •  Hitchcock  makes  him  of  more  value  when  in  the  office  than 
when  before  a  jury.  In  his  office,  he  is  a  very  superior  lawyer.  His 
mind  is  very  clear,  active  and  accurate,  and  very  pertinacious  when 
he  has  once  made  up  his  conclusions.  He  is  very  methodical  in  his 
habits,  and  is  remarkable  for  terse  and  clean-cut  expressions  —  his 
papers  always  being  in  the  fewest  words,  and  always  conveying  the 
exact  idea.  Perhaps  it  may  be*  said  that  his  opinions  on  commercial 
law  have  no  superior  anywhere.  He  has  a  high  notion  of  honor,  and 
it  is  not  probable  that  he  would  engage  in  an  unjust  cause,  unless 
deceived  by  his  client  with  reference  to  the  facts.  His  opinion  is  of 
value,  because  it  is  based  upon  a  very  thorough  knowledge  of  the  law, 
and  is  reached  by  a  singularly  clear  series  of  mental  operations.  He 
never  becomes  involved  in  obscurities.  He  is  able  to  take  a  dozen 
apparently  antagonistic  authorities  and  reach  the  just  conclusion 


CHARLES    HITCHCOCK..  39 

without  embarrassment  or  labor.  He  is  not  easily  confused.  He 
can  reconcile  conflicting  situations  and  reach  the  desired  end  without 
difficulty.  It  is  possible  that,  in  taking  a  view  of  the  bearings  and 
merits  of  any  case,  he  will  primarily  ascertain  what  is  its  technical 
character.  After  he  has  made  up  his  mind  as  to  what  the  authorities 
have  to  do  with  it,  it  may  occur  to  him  to  examine  its  moral  qualities. 
These,  however,  he  would,  as  just  said,  subordinate  to  the  legal  value 
of  any  case.  Not  that  he  would  lend  himself  to  assist  in  the  perpe- 
tration of  any  palpable  wrong ;  but  he  is  so  much'  the  more  a  lawyer 
than  a  moralist,  that  the  first  will  naturally  assert  its  precedence  over 
the  other. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  despite  the  assertion  that  he  is  very  evenly  bal- 
anced, he  has  some  qualities  that  are  subordinate  to  others.  He  is 
more  of  a  lawyer  than  a  moralist  —  in  the  sense  above  referred  to; 
and  a  better  attorney  than  an  advocate,  although  he  is  both  a  high 
moralist  and  a  fine  advocate.  Perfect  balance  in  any  character  is 
fatal.  Its  result  is  to  place  the  human  mechanism  in  the  condition 
of  a  wheel  whose  crank  is  "  on  a  centre,"  and  whose  opposing  forces 
are  so  alike  that  there  can  be  no  motion  whatever.  All  great  charac- 
ters are  a  trifle  off  "  the  centre  " ;  and  hence,  while  Mr.  Hitchcock  is 
a  superior  conversationalist,  advocate,  attorney,  chancery,  real  estate, 
and  criminal  lawyer,  and  a  business  man — although  he  is  excellent 
in  every  one  of  these  characters,  he  is,  in  some  of  them,  better  than 
in  others;  and  thereby  receives  that  mechanical  preponderance  in 
one  direction  or  another  which  is  essential  to  continuous  motion. 

Outside  of  his  profession  as  well  as  in  it,  Mr.  Hitchcock  is  greatly 
respected.  He  has  fine  social  qualities,  has  an  available  fund  of  val- 
uable general  information,  apart  from  his  legal  knowledge ;  and  is 
believed  to  be  the  possessor  of  qualifications  that  would  not  be  mis- 
placed on  the  judicial  bench.  He  was  President  of  the  late  Consti- 
tutional Convention  ;  and  as  such,  his  versatility  came  to  his  aid,  and 
made  him  a  dignified,  able,  and  impartial  officer. 

Charles  A.  Dupee,  a  partner  of  Mr.  Hitchcock,  is  a  grave,  quiet 
young  man,  of  fine  abilities,  and  fills  a  very  important  place  in  the 
firm  of  which  he  is  a  member. 


4°  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


SIDNEY    SMITH. 

THIS  lawyer  is  one  of  the  notabilities  of  the  Chicago  bar.  He  is 
noted  as  possessing  very  excellent  ability,  and  also  many  personal 
peculiarities  which  render  him  what  a  scientific  man  would  call,  not 
the  member  of  any  species,  but  a  "variety."  He  was  born  in  New 
York,  studied  law  with  Church  &  Davis  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Albion,  N.  Y.  He  came  to 
this  city  about  fifteen  years  ago. 

In  personal  appearance  he  is  very  marked.  He  is  well  and  heavily 
built,  and  has  in  reality  the  physique  of  a  prize-fighter.  His  face  is 
regular  and  very  swarthy.  He  has  heavy,  black  hair,  a  thick,  black 
moustache  and  piercing  black  eyes,  whose  upper  lids,  cut  squarely 
across,  add  additional  effect  to  their  piercing  character.  His  lower 
jaw  is  very  heavy,  and  gives  him  a  belligerent  expression  that  is  well 
supported  by  his  pronounced  chest,  savage  eyes,  and  shaggy  hair. 
His  voice  is  of  the  same  noticeable  character  as  the  rest  of  him.  As 
a  lawyer  he  has  some  peculiarities,  but  he  stands  well.  He  has  a 
high  order  of  conscience,  and  does  not  regard  one  side  of  a  suit  just 
as  good  as  the  other.  He  is  not  apt  to  give  his  services  in  any  case  in 
which  he  thinks  he  will  have  to  work  against  the  interests  of  justice. 
He  is  very  truthful  and  very  bold,  and  one  always  knows  just  what 
he  means  simply  by  knowing  what  he  says.  He  prepares  a  case  with 
great  care,  and  is  very  successful  in  cases  whose  decision  turns  on 
logic,  evidence,  preparation,  management.  Where  there  is  anything 
emotional  in  a  case  he  can  not  use  it.  In  fine,  in  the  preparation  of  a 
case  he  brings  to  bear  upon  it  indefatigable  industry,  a  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  law  and  of  the  authorities,  and  a  logi- 
cal appreciation  of  what  is  needed. 

He  tries  a  case  a  good  deal  with  his  external  arrangements  —  his 
heavy  jaw,  his  piercing  eyes,  and  the  elephantine  roar  of  his  voice. 
When  he  commences  a  suit  he  constitutes  himself  an  Ishmaelite  who 
looks  upon  all  human  kind  as  his  enemy.  This  mannerism  is  the 
more  singular  and  inexplicable  in  that  Mr.  Smith  is  at  heart  a  very 
genial,  kind-hearted  gentleman,  who  has  a  thousand  admirable  qual- 


SIDNEY    SMITH.  4! 

ities.  But  before  a  jury  he  is  all  muscle.  Take  him  out  of  the  court- 
room, and  he  enjoys  a  good  story  in  the  hearing  or  telling  as  well  as 
any  man.  Before  a  jury,  the  thing  is  too  serious  for  anything  like 
humor.  He  will  laugh  and  be  jolly  when  off  a  case,  but  once  on  it, 
he  is  on  the  war-path,  and  he  brandishes  his  tomahawk  and  goes 
for  scalps. 

His  speeches  are  logical,  but  sometimes  so  enveloped  in  thunder, 
and  so  barred  with  a  network  of  ferocious  gesticulations,  that  one  is 
apt  to  lose  sight  of  their  real  purpose  in  the  stunned  dismay  with 
which  he  views  their  surroundings.  Outside  of  the  performance  of 
his  professional  duties  he  is  very  popular  among  those  who  know 
him;  but  once  in  his  war-paint,  he  is  prepared  and  anxious  to  lift  the 
hair  of  his  best  friend. 

The  legal  profession  has  no  more  devoted  lover  of  law  than  Mr. 
Smith.  He  is  a  man  who  hates  shams,  and  who  has  no  toleration  for 
cant  or  humbug  of  any  kind.  He  is  as  sincere  in  all  his  ways  and 
beliefs  as  he  is  rugged,  boisterous,  and  muscular  in  his  developments 
before  a  jury.  He  is  not  a  malicious  man,  for  he  has  a  trick  of 
laughing  with  his  eyes  that  is  never  seen  save  in  one  who  is  thor- 
oughly good-natured  and  kindly  at  bottom.  He  has  brains  in  abun- 
dance, and  the  judgment  to  use  them  effectively.  What  he  needs 
more  than  anything  else  is  toning  down.  He  is  keyed  too  high  by 
several  octaves.  However,  the  abrading  effects  of  time  will  wear  off 
his  rough  edges.  He  is  a  diamond  in  the  rough,  and  requires  cutting 
and  polishing.  Time  will  doubtless  accomplish  these  results,  and 
then,  in  Mr.  Smith,  the  bar  of  Chicago  will  have  a  finished  diamond 
of  the  first  water,  for,  despite  all  his  personal  peculiarities,  he  is  uni- 
versally recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  successful  lawyers 
in  the  profession  in  the  Northwest. 


42  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


WILLIAM  H.  KING. 

MR.  KING  was  born  in  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  about  fifty 
years  ago.  He  entered  Union  College,  and  graduated  in  1846.  He 
studied  law  under  Hon.  John  K.  Porter,  of  Waterford,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847.  He  practiced  law  in  Waterford  till 
1853,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  has  been  a  resident  here 
since  that  time.  He  is  now  President  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
and  a  member  of  the  Illinois  legislature. 

Mr.  King  is  a  trifle  below  medium  size,  with  keen  black  eyes,  a 
good  forehead,  a  pleasant,  intellectual  face,  and  a  quick,  energetic, 
nervous  manner.  His  general  appearance  is  suggestive  of  kindness, 
and  of  an  active,  restless  character. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  King  occupies  a  very  excellent  position.  His 
practice  is  general,  and  his  development  very  uniform.  He  is  a  good 
lawyer,  whether  in  preparing  a  case,  in  trying  it,  or  in  presenting  it 
either  to  a  court  or  jury.  He  is  a  lawyer  whose  integrity  is  above  all 
suspicion.  He  will  only  engage  in  just  litigation,  and  once  engaged 
he  is  on  who  gives  the  case  a  most  thorough  and  conscientious  treat- 
ment. He  stands  among  the  very  first  of  those  of  his  profession  who 
may  be  relied  on  for  indefatigable  industry,  pains-taking  preparation 
and  conduct  of  a  case,  unvarying  courtesy  towards  everybody  with 
whom  they  come  in  contact,  and  thorough  and  conscientious  discharge 
of  their  duty  to  their  client.  These  qualities  has  given  him  a  excel- 
lent standing,  and  a  lucrative  and  successful  practice. 

Apart  from  his  profession,  Mr.  King  is  an  affable,  courteous  gen- 
tleman. He  has  secured  a  competence  from  the  practice  of  law,  and 
he  is  sufficiently  cultivated  to  permit  him  to  enjoy  life  very  thoroughly 
in  his  character  as  a  private  citizen. 

Mr.  George  Payson,  one  of  his  partners,  is  a  gentleman  of  about 
forty-five  years  of  age,  and  is  a  son  of  the  well-known  Rev.  Edward 
Payson.  He  is  a  very  reliable  lawyer  in  every  department  of  legal 
practice,  whether  his  duties  be  connected  with  the  office  or  with  the 
trial  of  a  case  in  the  courts. 

The  remaining  partner,  Ira  Scott,  is  about  forty-five  years  of  age, 
is  a  student  also  of  Hon.  John  K.  Porter,  is  a  very  superior  office 
lawyer,  and  a  master  in  chancery. 


M.    F.    TULEY.  43 


M.   F.   TULEY. 

THIS  gentleman,  now  corporation  counsel,  is  forty-four  years  of 
age,  and  was  born  in  Louisville.  He  removed  to  Chicago  in  1843, 
and  studied  law  here,  and  attended  the  law  school  in  Louisville  in 
1846.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Chicago  in  1847.  During  the 
Mexican  war.  he  served  three  years  in  the  volunteer  service  as  First 
Lieutenant  of  Company  F.  of  the  Fifth  Illinois  Infantry.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  he  went  into  New  Mexico,  and  remained  till  1854. 
During  his  residence  there  he  filled  the  position  of  attorney  general, 
and  served  two  terms  in  the  legislature.  Since  1854  he  has  been 
practicing  his  profession  in  Chicago.  He  was  elected  to  his  present 
office  in  1869. 

Mr.  Tuley  is  of  medium  size,  with  grey  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  an 
older  appearance  than  would  be  supposed  from  his  age.  He  has  seen 
very  much  of  the  world,  and  is  a  gentleman  of  considerable  cultivation 
outside  of  his  profession.  He  is  very  highly  regarded,  both  as  a  gen- 
tleman and  a  lawyer.  In  his  latter  character,  he  is  better  in  an  office 
or  in  the  conduct  of  a  case  than  before  a  jury.  He  is  not  a  fluent 
speaker,  but  he  makes  a  very  excellent  argument  before  a  judge,  and 
in  any  instance  in  which  the  bare,  logical  presentation  of  facts  are  all 
that  is  demanded.  In  the  preparation  of  a  case  he  is  very  careful  and 
pains-taking,  and  never  presents  anything  until  it  has  become  all  that 
laborious  preparation  can  make  it.  As  a  manager  he  is  very  shrewd 
and  cunning,  much  more  so  than  would  be  supposed  from  his  quiet 
face  and  demeanor,  and  more  so  even  than  is  generally  suspected  by 
those  who  have  long  possessed  his  acquaintance. 


44  'I'HE    CHICAGO    BAK. 


WIRT    DEXTER. 


MK.  DKXTEK  comes  of  a  legal  stock.  His  grandfather,  his  uncle, 
and  his  father  were  all  distinguished  members  of  the  legal  profession. 
In  his  celebrated  speech  against  Hayne,  Webster  spoke  of  Samuel 
Dexter  as  "  that  great  man  of  whom  the  gentleman  has  made  honor- 
able mention.  He  was  a  lawyer  and  he  was  also  a  statesman.  A 
question  of  constitutional  law  was  of  all  subjects  that  one  which  was 
best  suited  to  his  talents  and  learning.  Aloof  from  technicality,  and 
unfettered  by  artificial  rule,  such  a  question  gave  opportunity  for  that 
deep  and  clear  analysis,  that  mighty  grasp  of  principle,  which  so  much 
distinguish  his  higher  efforts.  His  very  statement  was^argument ;  his 
inference  seemed  demonstration.  The  earnestness  of  his  own  convic- 
tion wrought  conviction  in  others.  One  was  convinced,  and  believed, 
and  assented  because  it  was  gratifying,  delightful,  to  think,  and  feel, 
and  believe  in  unison  with  an  intellect  of  such  evident  superiority." 
This  gentleman  was  a  member  of  John  Adams' Cabinet,  and  was 
the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Dexter.  His  father  Samuel,  and  his  uncle 
Franklin  Dexter,  were  lawyers  of  great  prominence,  so  that  Mr.  Dexter 
is  royally  descended  with  respect  to  the  legal  standing  of  his  ancestors. 
Mr.  Dexter's  father  \vas  a  territorial  judge  in  Michigan,  after  which 
he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  the  town  of  Dexter,  which  he 
founded.  Wirt  Dexter  was  born  in  that  place,  and  always  resided 
there  until  his  removal  to  Chicago. 

He  is  now  about  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  hence  his  birth  must 
have  occurred  about  the  year  1833.  He  went  more  or  less  to  adjacent 
schools,  and  spent  some  little  time  at  Ann  Arbor,  but  left  before 
obtaining  his  degree  and  entered  an  Eastern  college.  The  other  por- 
tions of  his  life  before  he  came  to  Chicago  were  spent,  in  part,  in  the 
lumber  regions,  where  he  was  engaged  in  reducing  pine  to  the  neces- 
sities of  civilization,  and  in  addressing  his  fellow  citizens  from  the 
stump  upon  the  political  issues  of  the  day.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
young  man  whose  maiden  efforts  at  oratory  were  lofty  and  emphatic 
—  a  cross  between  the  fervid  pulpit  efforts  of  a  sincere  Methodist 


W1RT    DEXTER.  45 

preacher,  and  the  gorgeous  overflow  of  a  young  bird  of  freedom  whose 
home  is  near  the  setting  sun. 

Mr.  Dexter  came  to  Chicago  from  Michigan  about  thirteen  years 
ago,  where,  for  awhile,  he  was  engaged  in  the  lumber  business.  He 
then  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Sedgwick  &  Walker. 
In  due  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  within  this  period  he  has 
progressed  from  a  raw  youth  from  the  lumber  regions  into  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  the  Northwest,  and  from  —  intellectually  —  nobody 
in  particular,  into  one  of  the  most  influential  and  respected  citizens 
of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Dexter  is  tall,  with  a  massive  chest,  and  an  athletic  form 
which  nothing  less  than  the  gymnastics  of  log-rolling  could  have  de- 
veloped. He  has  an  open  face,  large,  blue,  expressive  and  kindly 
eyes,  a  high,  broad  forehead,  and  a  full,  dark-brown  beard.  His  ex- 
pression is  one  of  refinement  and  intelligence,  combined  with  a  genial 
and  dignified  frankness.  Taken  in  all  respects,  he  is  what  most  men 
would  term  a  handsome  man.  With  his  grand  torso,  and  long  arms, 
he  would  have  made  a  cavalry  officer  of  most  magnificent  presence. 
But  what  the  cavalry  service  has  lost  the  legal  profession  has  gained, 
for  he  stands  in  the  very  front  rank  of  the  latter. 

As  a  lawyer  he  is  both  a  superior  advocate  and  a  very  excellent 
counsellor.  In  his  latter  character  he  is  a  student;  and  yet  the  stu- 
dent rather  of  general  principles  than  of  authorities.  He  has  a  very 
powerful  intuitive  ability  to  distinguish  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
if  he  applies  himself  to  the  books  it  is  for  the  purpose,  not  of  ascer- 
taining their  conclusions,  but  of  finding  in  them  evidence  to  sustain 
the  conclusions  which  his  intuitions  have  already  constructed.  He 
seems  to  regard  the  law  book  as  a  means  rather  than  an  end ;  a  some- 
thing to  be  used  as  a  witness  to  establish  a  certain  case,  and  not  as  a 
judge  whose  decision  is  final. 

This  intuitive  appreciation  of  what  should  be,  without  a  slavish 
dependence  upon  authorities,  is  a  fine  and  very  excellent  mental  pecu- 
liarity. It  is  akin  to  an  intelligent  conscience ;  and  a  man  who  is 
guided  by  it  will  rarely  —  never  kncfwingly  —  become  involved  in  a 
wrong.  This  is  the  case  with  Mr.  Dexter.  It  does  not  seem  possible 
that  he  would  take  any  case  which  he  does  not  believe  to  be  right. 
From  the  inspiration  of  these  tuitions  he  has  grown  to  abhor  wrong, 
trickery,  and  even  litigation  itself,  whose  existence  he  believes  unnec- 
essary save  as  a  very  last  resort. 

As  an  advocate  he  stands  well.     His  speeches  always  mean  some- 


46  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

thing,  for  they  are  always  underlaid  by  the  conviction  that  he  is 
right.  He  always  speaks  with  an  earnestness  which  convinces  a 
listener  that  he  believes  what  he  is  saying.  The  tone  of  his  speech 
is  elevated,  clear,  and  comprehensive.  He  occasionally  introduces  a 
humorous  illustration,  but  never  descends  to  buffoonry.  Always  it 
is  evident  that  it  is  a  gentleman  who  speaks.  He  talks  with  entire 
readiness,  and  is  fond  of  interspersing  his  sentences  with  epigram- 
matic utterances  from  noted  authors.  His  better  efforts  are  classical 
in  their  purity,  their  clearness,  and  their  sharp-cut  outlines. 

In  his  legal  character,  Mr.  Dexter  is  influential  for  the  reason  that 
his  .firm  is  one  of  brains  and  cultivation,  and  because  his  personal 
influence  in  a  case  is  of  great  weight.  Men  have  confidence  in  him, 
because  they  know  he  will  not  advise  them  to  commence  a  suit  unless 
their  cause  is  right,  and  that  there  is  no  remedy  for  them  save  litiga- 
tion. It  is  a  very  strong  indorsement  that  a  man's  case  is  perfectly 
just,  and  a  substantial  earnest  that  he  will  win  it,  when  it  is  known 
that  it  is  being  carried  by  Mr.  Dexter. 

This  gentleman  has  very  fine  social  qualities.  He  is  not  of  one 
idea,  but  converses  easily  and  eloquently  upon  all  ordinary  topics. 
In  his  private  life  he  is  genial  and  affable,  occupies  a  high  social  po- 
sition, is  luxurious  in  his  habits,  and  artistic  in  his  tastes  and  sur- 
roundings. He  is  liberal  to  the  last  degree,  and  his  personal 
cooperation  and  that  of  his  check-book  may  always  be  relied  on  in 
any  case  of  public  or  private  suffering.  His  generosity,  intelligence, 
and  geniality  make  him  as  much  respected  in  private  life,  as  he  is  in 
his  professional  character  for  his  probity,  dignity,  eloquence  and 
ability. 


E.    G.    ASAY.  47 


E.    G.    ASAY. 

MR.  ASAY  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  must  be  now  somewhere 
in  the  vicinity  of  forty-five  years  of  age.  He  enjoyed  very  good  edu- 
cational advantages  in  his  youth,  the  which,  with  an  enthusiastic  dis- 
position and  a  fine  ability,  he  resolved  to  devote  to  the  sacred  calling 
of  the  ministry  of  the  pulpit.  He  connected  himself  with  the  Meth- 
odist denomination,  mainly,  one  who  knows  him  would  fancy,  be- 
cause it  furnishes  an  outlet  for  a  mercurial  disposition  and  a  springy, 
impetuous  nature,  such  as  is  found  in  no  other  denomination. 

He  occupied  himself  for  a  time  in  the  work  of  saving  wandering 
sheep  that  were  outside  the  fold,  and  in  other  pastoral  duties,  and 
was  then  taken  from  the  pulpit  and  placed  in  the  desk  of  a  professor, 
at  the  head  of  an  institution  of  learning  connected  with  the  Metho- 
dist church.  How  long  he  remained  in  this  position,  or  why  he  con- 
cluded to  change  his  profession,  is  not  known  to  the  writer ;  but  it  is 
known  that,  after  a  time,  he  transferred  himself  to  the  bar.  From 
the  pulpit  to  the  bar  is  no  great  distance.  The  pastor  who  saves  sin- 
ners from  the  damnation  of  sin,  and  the  lawyer  who  saves  criminals 
from  the  damnation  of  their  offences,  are  not  greatly  removed  from 
each  other.  These  changes  from  the  pulpit  to  the  bar,  and  vice  versa, 
are  not  uncommon.  In  fact,  pulpit  and  bar  are,  in  many  respects, 
interchangeable  terms ;  and  he  who  practices  in  the  Supreme  Court 
established  some  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  is  not  undergoing  an 
ill-judged  course  of  preparation  for  the  mundane  courts  of  chancery 
or  of  criminality. 

Mr.  Asay  studied  law  in  New  York,  and  came  to  Chicago  in  1856, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  actively  engaged  as  a  general  practi- 
tioner, with  a  very  decided  tendency  toward,  and  attachment  for, 
criminal  law  and  its  practice.  In  respect  to  the  latter  branch  of  his 
profession,  he  has  attained  a  first-class  position.  He  has  been  prom- 
inent in  many  noted  causes  ceTcbres  that  have  occurred  in  the  West, 
among  which  the  defense  of  Mollie  Trussell,  for  the  killing  of  the 
gambler  Trussell,  and  the  defense  of  the  alleged  conspirator,  Charles 
Walsh,  at  Cincinnati,  are  best  known  to  the  public.  His  success  in 


48  THK    CHICAGO    BAR. 

the  practice  of  criminal  law  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  in  Chicago  he 
has  had  the  charge  of  the  defense  of  some  forty  capital  cases,  and  in 
no  instance  have  any  of  his  clients  ever  suffered  a  capital  conviction. 
In  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Asay  is  prepossessing,  with  the  air 
of  a  cosmopolite.  He  is  a  little  above  medium  height,  with  a  mas- 
sive, well-developed  form.  His  head  is  broad,  denoting  a  fine  intel- 
lectual development ;  his  eyes  are  a  kindly  blue,  his  lips  full,  and  his 
countenance  one  expressive  of  great  intelligence,  geniality,  and 
energy. 

This  quality  of  energy  seems  to  pervade  him  most  thoroughly.  He 
is  always  wide-awake,  and  apparently  driven,  by  a  high-pressure, 
manifold  horse-power  mechanism.  In  conversation  and  in  speech  he 
dashes  ahead  with  the  flan  of  a  French  zouave  in  a. pas  de  charge. 
He  never  appears  to  go  wer  a  subject  —  he  goes  through  it,  and  sends 
obstructions  flying  in  every  direction,  like  a  locomotive  going  at  sixty 
miles  an  hour  through  a  snow-drift. 

He  is  an  undoubted  logician,  but  he  forces  convictions  by  his  im- 
petuosity. He  does  not  so  much  reason  things  from  his  path,  but  he 
dashes  them  aside.  Quick  as  a  flash  to  catch  a  point,  to  detect  a 
flaw,  or  avail  himself  of  any  sudden  exigency,  he  is  invaluable  in  the 
conduct  of  a  case  in  which  vigor,  determination,  and  instantaneous 
comprehension  of  a  character  of  a  juror  or  witness  are  requisite 
qualities. 

He  is  as  genial  in  manner  and  conversation  as  can  be  desired.  He 
is  at  home  on  all  subjects ;  has  an  opinion  on  anything,  or  will  have 
one,  in  a  fraction  of  a  second,  on  every  topic  that  is  presented  ;  he 
reads  and  analyzes  character  with  a  surprising  readiness  and  accu- 
racy; he  has  a  large  fund  of  fine  humor,  and  is  full  of  illustrations 
and  reminiscences ;  he  possesses  an  under-current  of  poetical  ideas, 
that  are  always  rising  to  and  sparkling  at  the  surface  of  his  conversa- 
tion; and  he  is  a  very  general  favorite  with  the  bar  and  the  public. 
In  his  private  life  he  is  noted  for  being  fond  of  a  luxurious  domes- 
ticity, and  as  being  a  devoted  bibliophilist,  whose  bibliolatry  has 
brought  together  the  finest  and  rarest  private  library  in  the  West,  if 
not  on  the  continent. 


THOMAS    DENT.  49 


THOMAS    DENT. 

MR.  DENT  was  born  in  Putnam  county,  Illinois,  November  14, 
1831.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  became  assistant,  for  a  short  time, 
in  the  Clerk's  office  of  that  county.  He  occasionally  acted  in  that 
capacity  during  three  years  following,  and  acquired  a  taste  for  legal 
business  and  studies.  At  fifteen  he  was  withdrawn  from  school  to 
assist  his  father  in  the  public  offices  of  the  county.  In  1854  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  was  soon  called  to  a  full  share  of  work  in 
the  county  and  upon  the  circuit.  In  the  spring  of  1856  he  removed 
to  Chicago  and  became  associated  in  business  with  M.  R.  M.  Wallace, 
now  County  Judge  of  Cook  county.  In  1857  he  removed  his  office 
to  Peoria,  but  he  returned  to  Chicago  the  next  year,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1860  entered  into  partnership  with  the  late  Judge  Arrington,  which 
association  continued  until  the  death  of  the  latter.  At  present  he  is 
of  the  firm  of  Dent  &  Black. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Dent  is  delicate  and  feminine.  His 
face  is  small  and  pale,  with  lines  furrowing  it  in  every  direction,  indi- 
cating severe  study.  His  countenance  is  one  that  shows  a  very  high 
order  of  intelligence.  In  his  physical  character  there  seems  little 
of  him.  He  is  so  slender  that  one  almost  feels  a  pity  that  one  with 
so  refined  a  face  should  be  obliged  to  encounter  the  dangers  of  the 
streets  without  a  guide  and  a  protector  in  the  person  of  a  stalwart 
companion. 

Physically,  nature  has  done  nothing  for  Mr.  Dent.  In  an  intel- 
lectual sense,  what  he  is  he  has  made  himself.  He  is  a  student  in 
the  most  comprehensive  sense  of  the  word.  He  looks  as  though  he 
had  neglected  and  exhausted  his  physical  frame  in  building  up  his 
intellect.  As  a  lawyer  possessing  a  great  knowledge  of  law,  he  stands 
very  high.  In  his  plodding,  studious  career,  he  has  attended  to  a 
large  number  of  cases  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  other 
courts  of  record,  laboring  assiduously  in  his  calling,  to  which  he  is 
much  attached.  He  presents  a  case  always  clearly  and  pointedly, 
and  comprehensively,  and  when  he  has  finished  he  has  made  every 
point  that  the  case  contains. 
4 


SO  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

Socially,  Mr.  Dent's  standing  is  very  high.  He  is  a  prominent 
and  influential  member  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  church,  and  is 
there,  as  in  all  his  social  relations,  admired  and  respected.  He  has 
no  enemies  at  the  bar.  They  all  admire  his  industry  and  respect  his 
knowledge.  Were  he  possessed  of  more  physical  energy,  could  his 
mental  efforts  be  reinforced  by  a  strong,  vigorous  frame,  were  he  a 
trifle  less  a  man  of  talent, 'and  more  a  man  of  genius,  he  would  take 
a  very  high  rank.  As  it  is,  he  stands  well,  and  if  patient,  persevering 
industry  can  carry  him  to  the  front,  he  will  surely,  in  time,  attain  that 
position. 


MELVILLE    W.    FULLER.  51 


MELVILLE   W.  FULLER. 

MR.  FULLER  is  a  lawyer  by  descent  as  well  as  education.  He  is 
the  son  of  a  lawyer,  and  the  grandson,  on  one  side,  of  a  lawyer,  and 
on  the  other  of  Nathan  Weston,  at  one  time  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  was  born  in  Augusta,  Maine,  in  1833,  and  grad- 
uated, where  all  Maine  men  now  graduate,  at  Bowdoin,  in  1853.  He 
commenced  the  study  of  law  in  Augusta,  and  finished  in  the  Harvard 
law  school.  He  was  president  of  the  common  council  of  Augusta  in 
1856;  and  the  same  year  left  there  and  came  to  Chicago,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  Since  here  he  has  taken  quite  a  prominent  position 
as  a  public  man.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
in  1862,  a  democratic  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1863,  and  a  dele- 
gate to  the  National  Democratic  Convention  in  1864.  Although  very 
devoted  to  his  chosen  profession,  Mr.  Fuller  has  always  found  time  to 
be  a  democrat,  and  to  do  his  share  of  the  labors  of  the  organization. 

In  person,  he  is  a  trifle  less  than  medium  height,  with  broad  shoul- 
ders and  a  well-knit  frame.  He  has  a  large,  intellectual  head,  with 
intelligent  gray  eyes,  a  strong  mouth,  a  luxurious  moustache,  and 
abundant  hair  slightly  sprinkled  with  gray,  and  is  a  very  good- 
looking  gentleman,  with  a  pleasant,  intellectual  face. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Fuller  has  achieved  a  very  high  reputation  /rom 
his  legal  services  in  general,  and  from  the  prominence  with  which  he 
was  brought  before  the  public  by  his  connection  with  the  Whitehouse- 
Cheney  case  —  an  ecclesiastical  proceeding  whose  details  have  become 
world-wide.  Tn  his  profession  he  is  a  man  of  many  resources,  and  is 
usually  esteemed  a  manager  whom  it  is  no  small  labor  to  handle.  He 
is  very  vigilant  and  active.  He  is  a  ready  speaker,  and  has  great 
fluency  and  speaks  well.  He  is  perhaps  a  better  advocate  than  an 
attorney,  for  the  reason  that,  in  addition  to  his  oratorical  ability,  there 
is  more  opportunity  for  adroit  management  in  trying  a  case  than  in 
preparing  it ;  nevertheless,  he  is  industrious  to  the  extreme,  and  he 
spares  no  pains,  time  or  labor  in  bringing  his  cases  to  the  very  highest 
state  of  preparation.  He  is  able  to  bring  a  very  large  amount  of 
general  learning  into  his  speeches,  and  his  use  of  the  classics  is  at 


LIBRARY 


52  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

once  extended  and  elegant.  He  is  a  bull-dog  in  pertinacity,  never 
surrenders,  and  always  pushes  his  cases  to  the  last  extremity.  He 
gained  notoriety  as  a  lawyer  in  many  important  cases,  and  which 
involved  great  constitutional  and  political  questions.  Of  late  he  has 
attracted  attention  in  the  Cheney  case,  and  his  oral  argument  before 
the  Supreme  Court  in  that  case  is  regarded  as  of  the  very  highest 
order. 

His  ambition,  which  is  great  politically  as  well  as  in  his  profession, 
spurs  him  into  making  the  most  of  law  and  his  ability.  He  is  very 
cool  in  trying  a  case,  and  keeps  his  temper  well,  and  therein  has  a 
great  advantage  over  a  more  impetuous  opponent.  His  tactics  in 
such  cases  are  good,  for  the  reason  that,  whenever  practicable,  he 
never  awaits  to  receive  an  attack,  but  always  anticipates,  by  charging 
himself  and  putting  the  other  party  on  the  defensive.  He  is  nervous 
without  being  timorous;  and  is  very  apt  to  indulge  in  flank  or  other 
movements  in  directions  that  are  not  watched  by  the  opposing  coun- 
sel. Perhaps  the  best  evidence  that  he  is  devoted  to  the  law  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  he  continues  its  practice  although  sufficiently  wealthy 
to  live  comfortably  without  it. 


B.    F.     AVER.  53 


B.  F.  AVER. 

THIS  lawyer,  the  middle  member  of  Beckwith,  Ayer  &  Kales,  was 
born  in  Rockingham  county,  New  Hampshire,  in  1825.  He  fitted 
himself  for  college  at  Albany,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1846. 
He  studied  law  two  years  at  Manchester,  one  year  at  Harvard,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  Hampshire,  in  1849.  He  practiced 
there  until  1857,  and  was,  during  that  time,  Prosecuting  Attorney  for 
three  years.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1857,  and  has  since  practiced 
law  in  this  city.  He  was  Corporation  Counsel  from  1861  to  1865, 
and  filled  the  position  most  acceptably.  At  the  present  time,  in 
addition  to  his  other  duties,  he  is  the  attorney  for  the  South  Park 
Commissioners. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Ayer  occupies  a  prominent  position.  He  is 
better  adapted  for  office  business  than  for  the  trial  of  cases.  He 
possesses  very  clear  perceptions  and  great  industry,  so  that  he  is  not 
only  entirely  competent  to  go  carefully  through  a  case,  but  to  reach 
with  almost  entire  certainty,  exact  and  correct  conclusions.  His 
integrity  is  as  undoubted  as  his  judgment  is  beyond  dispute.  He  is 
regarded  as  very  close,  or,  in  other  words,  very  exact  and  mathemat- 
ical, in  his  mental  processes.  He  has  a  very  fine  analytical  mind,  and 
has  his  ability  in  this  direction  so  nicely  adjusted  that  he  can  split  a 
hair,  with  entire  accuracy  every  time,  "  twixt  south  and  southwest 
side."  He  is  modest,  reticent,  undemonstrative,  and  unostentatious. 
As  a  speaker,  he  is  easy,  polished,  fluent,  forcible,  but  not  imaginative. 

Mr.  Ayer  looks  much  younger  than  his  real  age.  He  is  of  medium 
height,  has  a  fine,  intellectual  head,  blue  eyes,  regular  features,  abun- 
dant light  hair,  and  a  clean-shaved  face.  His  looks  indicate  intelli- 
gence and  refinement.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  cultivation  outside  of 
his  profession,  and  is  very  much  respected,  both  by  his  brother  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  and  by  the  general  public. 


54  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


EMORY  A.  STORKS. 


THIS  well-known  advocate  was  born  in  Cattaraugus  county,  New 
York,  in  1834.  He  read  law  with  his  father  and  Marshall  R.  Cham- 
plain,  now  Attorney  General  of  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Buffalo,  in  1855  ;  and  practiced  law  in  New 
York  city  until  1859,  when  he  came  to  Chicago. 

Mr.  Storrs  is  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most  noted  men  at  the 
Chicago  bar.  In  thus  having  attained  prominence,  his  shining  qual- 
ities are  not  of  an  unmixed  character.  There  is  in  him  much  to  ad- 
mire, and  elements  which  would  improve  his  character  were  they 
omitted.  He  has  better  qualities  in  abundance,  and  an  ability  which, 
if  evenly  developed,  would  place  him  at  the  very  head  of  the  legal 
profession  in  the  West. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Storrs  has,  as  has  been  said,  some  qualities 
which  have  few  equals  and  no  superiors  in  the  legal  profession,  either 
in  Chicago  or  the  country.  As  a  jury  lawyer,  there  is  a  domain  in 
which  he  has  no  rival.  His  command  of  language  is  something  mar- 
velous *  and  his  powers  of  ridicule  and  sarcasm,  and  his  development 
of  the  humerous  phases  of  any  case,  are  unapproachable.  He  is,  in 
these  respects,  brilliant  and  successful  to  an  extreme.  His  compre- 
hension and  appreciation  of  the  ludicrous  are  vast,  and  his  ability  to 
employ  them  is  equally  extensive.  His  efforts  are  always  sparkling, 
intensely  brilliant,  and  sometimes  evanescent.  What  is  strange  in  his 
oratorical  character,  is  the  fact  that  he  is  rarely  pathetic.  The  man 
who  has  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  humorous,  rarely  is  unaccompanied 
by  a  corresponding  susceptibility  to  its  opposite.  He  who  will  laugh 
heartily  will  generally  cry  when  due  cause  for  tears  is  presented.  If 
a  jury  whom  Mr.  Storrs  addresses  ever  find  themselves  with  their  eyes 
filled  with  tears,  is  is  from  the  fact  of  laughing  over  his  funny  presen- 
tation of  some  point,  or  his  scoriation  of  some  opposing  lawyer  or 
some  unfortunate  witness. 

But  these  defects  are  the  exception,  possibly,  rather  than  the  rule 
in  Mr.  Storrs'  forensic  efforts.  Many  of  his  good  things  are  born  of 
the  occasion,  and  this  occasional  spontaneity  is  a  redeeming  clause 


EMORY     A.    STORKS.  55 

in  Mr.  Storrs'  efforts  as  an  advocate;  and  its  results  are  often  of  a 
fineness,  a  pertinency,  a  superiority  that  indicate  that  their  originator 
has  in  him  many  of  the  better-qualities  of  the  artist.  In  addition  to 
these  occasional  risings  above  his  commonplace  and  average  efforts, 
Mr.  Storrs  possesses  other  excellent  qualities.  He  is  a  hard  student 
when  necessity  demands  application,  and  he  has  riot  only  the  industry 
to  work  up  a  case,  but  the  ability  to  comprehend  it.  He  is  willing 
to  work,  zealous  in  the  cause  of  his  client,  and  able  to  accomplish  a 
good  deal. 

As  a  political  speaker,  Mr.  Storrs  has  gained  considerable  position, 
and  he,  in  this  rSlf,  carries  some  weight.  In  this  domain  of  effort, 
motives  are  not  so  much  considered,  and  sincerity  is  not  of  so  essen- 
tial consequence. 

In  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Storrs  is  below  the  medium  height, 
is  slender,  with  light  hair  and  complexion,  and  blue  eyes.  He  is 
quick  in  movement,  and  has  a  nervous  style,  that  indicates  an  active 
organization.  He  has,  in  fine,  many  of  the  elements  of  a  great  man, 
and  is  a  lawyer  who  is  very  successful,  and  who  has  more  admirers 
and  more  haters  than  any  other  member  of  the  profession  in  Chicago. 


$6  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


STEPHEN  A.  GOODWIN. 

THIS  well-known  member  of  the  Chicagobar  was  born  in  1807,  in 
Geneva,  New  York.  He  passed  his  extreme  youth  in  Geneva,  and 
in  time  removed  with  his  father  to  Detroit.  He  entered  Hamilton 
College  in  1826,  and  passed  from  there  to  Union  College  in  1828,  and 
graduated  the  following  year.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connec- 
tion that  one  of  his  classmates  at  Union  College  was  Robert  Toombs, 
between  whom  and  young  Goodwin  there  was  no  end  of  wordy  war, 
Toombs  being  then  an  ardent  champion  of  States'  rights,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  budget  of  extreme  Southern  views.  He  studied  law  with 
Hon.  Geo.  B.,  and  E.  T.  Throop — afterwards  Governor  of  New  York 
— and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Auburn  in  1831.  Some  time  after 
this,  he  combined  politics  with  law,  taking  an  active  interest  in  cur- 
rent political  events.  During  the  campaign  accompanying  Jackson's 
second  nomination,  he  conducted  a  journal  in  the  interest  of  Old 
Hickory,  in  which  department  of  effort  he  succeeded  not  merely  in 
distinguishing  himself,  but  in  doing  excellent  service  for  the  party. 
For  fifteen  years  prior  to  the  abolition  of  Chancery  practice  in  New 
York  he  was  Clerk  of  the  Seventh  Circuit  of  the  Chancery  Court  un- 
der the  late  Chancellor  Walworth,  and  with  which  distinguished  man 
he  sustained  extremely  friendly  and  intimate  relations. 

During  his  practice  of  law  in  New  York,  the  men  with  whom  he 
was  almost  daily  brought  into  professional  contact,  were  Hon.  Wm. 
H.  Seward,  Hon.  Jno.  C.  Spencer,  Hon.  B.  Davis  Noxon,  Hon.  F.  G. 
Jewett,  Ex-Gov.  Selden  ;  and  from  which  contact  he  was  necessarily 
obliged  to  develop  his  legal  faculties  with  more  than  average  rapidity 
and  excellence. 

In  1855  he  removed  to  Detroit,  and  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  that  place,  in  company  with  his  brother,  who  is  now  Judge 
of  the  Mackinaw  Circuit.  He  remained  there  four  years,  and  then 
removed  to  Chicago,  in  order  to  better  accommodate  the  business 
which  had  grown  up  for  him  in  this  locality. 

Mr.  Goodwin  is  of  marked  personal  appearance.  He  is  quite  tall, 
slender,  erect,  with  dark  complexion,  high  forehead,  hair  black,  and 


STEPHEN    A    GOODWIN.  57 

slightly  tinged  with  gray,  regular  features,  and  a  countenance  which 
is  fine  in  detail,  but  ploughed  with  lines  indicative  of  severe  labor, 
and  possibly  somewhat  care-worn  and  anxious  in  its  expression. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  lawyer  at  the  bar  of  the  Northwest  who  has 
so  varied  an  experience,  and  so  extended  a  practice  in  every  depart- 
ment of  law,  as  Mr.  Goodwin.  In  criminal,  chancery,  and  admiralty 
practice,  common  law,  and  ecclesiastical  matters,  he  has  had  a  busi- 
ness which  has  extended  over  nearly  half  a  century.  At  the  present 
time  he  devotes  himself  mainly  to  patent  law  practice,  and  in  this  de- 
partment he  has  achieved  a  very  large  success  and  constructed  a  busi- 
ness of  great  dimensions. 

He  is  very  evenly  developed  as  a  lawyer.  Perhaps  he  is  now  more 
of  a  counsellor  than  an  attorney,  for  the  reason  that  his  labors  now 
mainly  confine  him  to  judicial,  rather  than  jury  arguments.  For- 
merly, when  his  duties  called  him  to  lay  a  case  before  a  jury,  he  was 
very  highly  successful,  and  had  few  superiors  in  this  line  of  effort. 
He  is  a  man  of  the  greatest  possible  industry  ;  and  when  once  he  has 
made  the  case  of  a  client  his  own,  he  spares  no  effort  to  achieve  suc- 
cess. His  learning  as  a  lawyer  is  profound  and  exhaustive ;  and  in 
the  matter  of  integrity,  one  more  unimpeachable  nowhere  exists.  His 
experience  of  men  is  varied  almost  beyond  comprehension.  He  has 
studied  them  under  every  possible  circumstance,  having,  while  at 
Auburn,  had  a  practice  which  extended  not  only  over  the  entire  State, 
but  also  over  a^great  part  of  New  England.  Since  leaving  the  East 
his  territorial  efforts  have  been  quite  as  extended,  and  embrace  opera- 
tions in  every  State  in  the  Northwest.  In  fine,  it  may  be  said  that 
he  is  a  gentleman  who,  professionally  and  socially,  is  thoroughly  esti- 
mable, and  this  fact  is  recognized  universally  by  those  with  whom  he 
is  thrown  into  contact. 


58  THK    CHICAGO    BAR. 


ISAAC   N.  ARNOLD. 


THIS  gentleman,  who  has  tor  many  years  occupied  a  prominent 
position  before  the  public  as  a  lawyer  and  politician,  was  born  in 
Hartwick,  Otsego  County,  New  York,  November  30,  1815.  He  had 
the  customary  educational  advantages  of  the  county  schools  and 
village  academy,  which  he  improved  to  such  an  extent  as  to  give 
him  a  very  fair  preparation  for  the  duties  of  practical  life. 

At  the  early  age  of  fifteen  he  found  himself  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  from  that  time  began  his  struggle  with  the  stern  facts 
of  existence,  which  served  to  strengthen  and  develop  those  mental  and 
moral  characteristics  which  have  made  him  so  much  a  man  of  influ- 
ence and  note.  From  seventeen  to  twenty  he  divided  his  time 
between  academic  study,  teaching,  and  reading  law,  earning  enough 
mo  ney  by  teaching  half  the  year  to  enable  him  to  pursue  his  studies 
the  other  half.  He  first  entered  the  law  office  of  Richard  Cooper,  of 
Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  a  nephew  of  the  celebrated  author,  J.  Fenni- 
more  Cooper,  and  subsequently  became  a  student  of  Judge  K.  H. 
Morehouse.  By  assiduous  application  he  soon  acquired  sufficient 
knowledge  of  law  to  make  his  services  in  the  office  available  toward 
paying  his  expenses.  In  1835  he  was  admitted  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  immediately  entered  into 
partnership  with  Judge  Morehouse,  with  whom  he  remained  until  he 
came  West,  in  1836. 

In  1837  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  and 
afterwards  became  connected  with  E.  C.  Lamed  and  Geo.  W. 
Lay.  During  this  year,  Chicago  having  become  an  incorporated 
city,  he  was  elected  City  Clerk,  but  his  professional  business 
increased  so  rapidly,  that  he  resigned  his  Clerkship  before  the  year 
expired,  and  confined  himself  exclusively  to  the  practice  of  law. 
In  1842  he  first  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  politics  of  the  State. 
At  that  time  the  question  of  State  finances  was  the  exciting  topic. 
Public  improvements,  which  were  as  yet  unproductive  of  revenue, 


ISAAC    .V    AKNOLb.  59 

having  brought  the  State  deeply  in  debt,  many  prominent  men  were 
zealously  advocating  repudiation. 

W.ith  the  nice  sense  of  honor  for  which  Mr.  Arnold  has  always 
been  noted,  he  at  once  raised  his  voice  in  protest,  and  entered  the 
field  an  active  and  efficient  opponent  of  so  questionable  a  proceeding. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  State  Democratic  Convention,  and  was  also 
elected  to  the  Legislature  the  same  year,  as  the  recognized  champion 
of  anti-repudiation. 

In  1844  he  was  nominated  as  one  of  the  Electors  by  the 
State  Convention,  and  in  1848  was  elected  delegate  to  the  Buffalo 
Convention,  supporting  with  great  earnestnes  the  Free  Soil 
movement,  and  rendering  substantial  aid  in  organizing  the 
new  party,  which  had  its  birth  at  that  time.  In  1855  Mr.  Arnold 
was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  \\  as  the  Free  Soil  candidate 
for  Speaker,  lacking  only  three  or  four  votes  of  being  elected.  In 
1858  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  Congress  before  the 
Republican  Convention  of  the  then  second  district,  John  F.  Farns- 
worth  being  his  opponent.  In  1860  he  was  elected  to  Congress  over 
Mr.  Farnsworth,  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

Up  to  this  time,  although  taking  an  active  part  on  the  anti- 
slavery  side  of  politics,  in  every  campaign,  State  or  National,  Mr. 
Arnold  had  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, by  which  means  he  had  won  a  leading  place  among  the  noted 
and  successful  lawyers  of  the  West,  having  a  professional  income  of 
$24,000  when  he  went  into  Congress.  Retiring  entirely  from  his 
profession,  he  gave  himself  up  to  his  public  duties,  and  for  six  years 
remained  at  Washington,  expending  each  year  $5,000  more  than 
his  compensation.  In  1864  he  declined  a  re-nomination  to  Congress, 
but  received  the  appointment  of  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  the 
Post-office  Department,  which  position  he  resigned  under  Mr. 
Johnson's  administration.  Since  that  time  Mr.  Arnold  has  with- 
drawn from  politics  entirely,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession  and  literature. 

He  is  a  very  excellent  lawyer,  very  methodical  in  his  habits,  dig- 
nified before  a  Jury,  and  forcible  and  convincing  when  arguing  before 
a  Judge.  He  has  made  a  specialty  of  criminal  practice.  His  first 
important  case  of  this  kind  was  the  trial  of  a  negro  named  Dacit,  in 
Otsego  county,  who  was  accused  of  murdering  his  brother.  Mr. 
Arnold  being  satisfied  of  his  innocence,  volunteered  to  defend  him, 
and  procured  his  acquittal.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  extensive 


60  THE    CHICAGO    BA«. 

criminal  practice,  during  which  no  man  defended  by  him  was  ever 
convicted.  Among  other  noted  causes  in  which  he  has  appeared  as 
counsel,  that  of  Taylor  Driscoll,  charged  with  the  murder  of  John 
Campbell,  the  leader  of  a  band  of'  "  regulators,"  in  Ogle  county,  is 
perhaps  the  most  celebrated  ;  while  the  cases  of  Henry  Bridenbecke, 
and  German,  both  charged  with  murder,  in  McHenry  county,  and  of 
Green,  in  this  city,  are  of  equal  interest. 

Mr.  Arnold  has  a  keen,  analytical  mind,  is  a  close  observer,  and, 
without  possessing  genius,  possesses  so  much  talent  that  it  is  difficult 
to  draw  the  line.  He  is  wiry,  shrewd  and  untiring,  a  deep  thinker, 
and  a  speaker  of  fluency  and  ability. 

As  an  author  Mr.  Arnold  has  also  achieved  signal  success.  His 
"  Life  of  Lincoln"  is  generally  conceded  to  be  the  most  complete 
and  faithful  record  of  that  great  man's  career,  and  of  the  history  of 
the  overthrow  of  slavery  ever  given  to  the  public.  His  close  and 
intimate  relations  with  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  him  advantages  which,  with 
his  appreciative  admiration  of  his  subject,  combined  with  a  facile 
pen,  enabled  him  to  give  with  accuracy,  as  well  as  elegance  of  diction, 
the  history  of  the  most  interesting  and  exciting  times  of  our  late 
war. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Arnold  is  tall,  slender,  and  stately. 
He  has  a  high,  prominent  forehead,  thin  grey  hair,  an  aquiline  nose? 
keen,  grey  eyes  under  heavy  brows,  a  thin,  closely  shut  mouth,  and 
a  full  beard,  well  trimmed  and  grey.  In  manner  he  is  courtly,  affable 
and  rather  elaborate,  after  the  manner  of  the  old  regime,  and  always 
looks  and  acts  the  polished,  courteous  gentleman. 


GEORGE    C.    BATES.  6l 


GEORGE    C.    BATES. 

THIS  Nestor  of  the  Western  bar  is  a  native  of  Canandaigua,  New 
York,  and  was  born  in  1814.  He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Hon. 
John  C.  Spencer,  reading  with  him  three  years.  In  1834  he  went  to 
Detroit,  and  was  there  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  soon  obtained  a  large 
collecting  practice,  which  extended  to  Indiana  and  Northern  Illinois. 
In  1841,  he  was  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney  by  General 
Harrison,  but  resigned  at  Harrison's  death.  He  was  re-appointed  to 
the  same  position  by  Taylor  ;  and  he  held  the  office  until  1852,  when 
he  resigned  and  went  to  California,  and  there  filled  the  position  of 
assistant  counsel  in  government  cases.  Five  years  later,  he  returned 
to  Detroit,  having  accumulated  a  large  fortune  during  his  California 
career.  In  1861  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  since  that  time  he  has  been 
in  general  practice.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  cotemporaneously 
with  Hon.  Thomas  Hoyne  and  the  late  Judge  George  Manierre,  of 
this  city,  and  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  bar  in 
the  West.  While  his  line  of  practice  is  general,  he  has  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  revenue  and  admiralty  matters,  for  which  he  is  emi- 
nently fitted  from  his  long  connection  with  official  positions. 

Mr.  Bates  is  of  medium  size,  with  gray  hair  and  moustache,  keen, 
handsome  dark  eyes,  and  a  pleasing,  intelligent  face.  He  has  been 
very  prominently  identified  with  political  matters,  and  as  a  speaker 
has  been  in  very  constant  demand.  He  is  an  advocate  rather  than  an 
office  lawyer,  and  as  such  he  has  achieved  a  very  marked  success. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  very  affable  and  courteous,  is  the 
possessor  of  a  very  large  amount  of  genuine  esprit  de  corps,  and,  it  may 
be  added,  is  very  generally  respected  by  those  who  know  him. 


62  THK    CHICAGO    BAR. 


IRA  O.  WILKINSON. 

HON.  IRA  O.  WILKINSON  was  horn  in  Virginia,  and  is  about  fifty 
years  of  age.  In  1835  he  became  a  resident  of  Jacksonville,  Illinois, 
where  he  was  educated  and  studied  law  with  Judge  William  Thomas. 
On  being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  Hon. 
Richard  Yates,  which  was  relinquished  when  he  removed  to  Rock 
Island  in  1845.  Here  he  built  up  an  extensive  and  successful  prac- 
tice, and  was  elected  and  served  for  two  terms  as  Judge  of  the  Sixth 
Judicial  District,  in  which  position  he  obtained  an  enviable  record 
and  gave  very  general  satisfaction.  In  1867  he  removed  to  Chicago, 
and  is  now  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Wilkinson,  Sackett  & 
Bean. 

Judge  Wilkinson  is  unassuming  in  his  manners,  dignified  and 
courteous  in  his  deportment,  and,  without  the  circle  of  his  intimate 
friends,  somewhat  inclined  to  reticence.  He  has  a  vigorous  and  well- 
balanced  mind,  trained  and  developed  by  liberal  professional  and 
general  culture.  He  possesses  undoubted  integrity,  and  in  his  prac- 
tice unites  the  probity  and  fairness  of  the  judge  with  the  acumen  and 
fidelity  of  the  lawyer.  He  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  general 
principles  of  the  law,  and  in  argument  he  reasons  from  his  own 
premises,  deduces  his  own  conclusions,  and  uses  cases  only  so  far  as 
they  illustrate  principles.  He  is  a  counselor  rather  than  an  advocate, 
and,  as  such,  is  a.  very  safe  adviser. 


ISRAEL     N.    STILES.  63 


ISRAEL  N.  STILES. 

GENERAL  STILES  was  born  in  1833,  in  Suffield,  Connecticut,  on 
a  farm,  where  he  remained  till  sixteen  years  of  age,  working  in  sum- 
mer and  attending  the  district  school  in  winter.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  removed  to  Lafayette,  Indiana,  and  commenced  reading  in  a 
law-office,  having  read  law  the  year  before  coming  West.  Soon  after 
he  took  a  school  a  few  miles  out  of  town.  At  night  he  taught  sing- 
ing school,  and  the  while  carried  on  his  law  studies.  The  next  year 
he  opened  a  private  school,  and  continued  reading  law  until  1855, 
when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  About  this  time,  Lawrence,  in 
Kansas,  was  burned,  and  at  a  public  meeting,  young  Stiles  developed 
an  oratorical  ability  that  astonished  every  one.  Thereafter  he  rose 
rapidly  into  prominence.  During  the  Fremont- Buchanan  campaign 
he  made  sixty-six  regular  speeches  through  the  country,  one  of  which 
was  given  in  Music  Hall,  Boston,  and  another  in  Augusta,  Maine. 
He  was  prosecuting  attorney  for  two  years,  and  subsequently  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature. 

He  was  beginning  to  get  ahead  in  law  practice  when  the  war 
broke  out.  He  raised  a  company,  although  married  the  same  month. 
Somebody  else  received  the  captaincy  of  his  company,  and  then  he 
enlisted  as  a  private,  but  was  made  Adjutant  to  the  2oth  Indiana. 
He  was  captured  at  Malvern  Hill,  and  was  in  Libby  six  weeks,  and 
was  then  exchanged.  He  was  made  Major  of  the  63d  Indiana,  then 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  same  regiment,  and  finally  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral, his  commission  dating  from  the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tennessee. 
After  the  war  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  practised  law  alone  until  he 
entered  into  partnership  with  Judge  McAllister,  in  1867.  Two  years 
later  he  was  elected  City  Attorney,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

This  sketch  of  the  life  of  General  Stiles  has  been  made  thus  ex- 
tended, because  its  incidents  prove  better  than  any  mere  assertion, 
his  extraordinary  versatility,  and  the  energy  of  a  character  by  whose 
aid  he  has  raised  himself  from  obscurity  to  his  present  position. 

As  a  lawyer  he  is  rather  more  of  an  advocate  than  an  attorney, 
and  it  may  safely  be  added  that,  in  the  trial  of  cases  he  has  few  supe- 


64  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

riors  at  the  bar  of  Chicago.  He  is  very  adroit  in  the  management  of 
a  case,  and  has  a  power  and  a  quickness  of  repartee,  and  an  ability  to 
avail  himself  of  emergencies  that  are  singularly  effective  in  his  clients' 
interests,  and  uncomfortable  for  the  plans  of  opposing  counsel. 
Whenever  he  presents  a  case  to  the  court,  he  is  always  prepared  with 
the  authorities  which  support  the  legal  propositions  involved,  and  in 
this  particular  he  is  usually  clear  and  complete  in  his  preparation. 
As  an  advocate  he  has  much  ability.  He  always  seems  sincere,  and 
wields  a  most  effective,  pathetic  power ;  and  as  a  public  speaker,  one 
who  is  ready,  fluent  and  logical,  and  who  can  tell  an  apt  story  with 
incomparable  mimetic  power,  he  has  few  or  no  equals  of  his  age  in  the 
Northwest.  As  he  is  yet  a  comparatively  young  man,  he  has  before 
him  a  future  of  great  promise. 

In  appearance  he  is  slender,  of  medium  height,  rather  swarthy  in 
complexion,  with  keen,  full,  dark  eyes,  and  dark  beard  worn  full.  So- 
cially he  is  much  liked.  He  converses  well  on  all  general  subjects,  and 
has  just  a  flavor  of  satire  in  his  conversation  sufficient  to  render  it 
palatable.  He  is  profuse  in  his  illustrations,  possesses  a  fine  fund  of 
anecdote  and  humor,  which  renders  intercourse  with  him  a  matter  of 
great  social  and  intellectual  enjoyment ;  and  as  a  post-prandial  ora- 
tor he  is  happy,  humorous,  and  effective  far  beyond  the  average  in 
this  class  of  efforts.  With  reference  to  his  course  as  City  Attorney, 
his  success  may  be  best  comprehended  from  the  character  of  a  re- 
mark, made  a  few  days  since  in  court,  by  an  eminent  lawyer  who  was 
opposing  him  in  a  city  case,  and  who  warned  the  jury  that  his  appa- 
rent fairness  in  arguing  a  case,  and  which  was  calculated  to  mislead 
them,  had  saved  the  city,  since  he  had  become  City  Attorney,  thou- 
sands of  dollars. 


CHARLES    H.    REED.  65 


CHARLES  H.  REED. 

MR.  REED  was  born  in  Strykersville,  Wyoming  county,  New 
York,  in  1834.  He  attended  school  and  worked  on  a  farm  during 
his  younger  days  ;  and  later,  taught  school,  and  attended  an  academy 
until  he  entered  Yale  College.  He  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1858,  in  Henry  county,  in  Illinois.  He  removed  from  that 
place  to  Rock  Island,  and,  in  1860,  in  company  with  Hon.  Joseph 
Knox,  he  removed  to  Chicago.  He  practiced  law  till  1864,  when  he 
was  elected  District  Attorney,  an  office  which  he  still  holds. 

Mr.  Reed  is  tall,  broad-shouldered,  well-formed,  with  light  hair, 
moustache  and  imperial,  regular  and  intelligent  features,  and  blue 
eyes.  In  his  movements  he  is  quick,  nervous,  and  therein  indicates 
his  character.  He  is  a  well-read  lawyer,  has  a  great  deal  of  positive 
character,  and  is  a  very  shrewd  manager.  He  possesses  as  much  in- 
fluence as  any  man  in  Chicago ;  employs  a  vast  amount  of  energy  ; 
and  pushes  everything  forward  with  resistless  force.  In  his  character 
as  a  public  prosecutor,  he  has  shown  himself  the  possessor  of  great 
industry,  and  the  ability  to  dispose  of  a  vast  quantity  of  work  within 
a  very  short  time.  In  this  direction,  he  is  indefatigable  and  indus- 
trious ;  and  the  result  is  that  he  is  universally  acknowledged  to  be  a 
thorough,  efficient,  and  economical  official. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  amount  of  labor  which  his  official 
position,  in  addition  to  his  private  business,  entails  upon  him,  he  finds 
leisure  to  devote  to  study ;  and  in  addition  to  his  attainments  as  a 
lawyer,  he  is  one  of  the  finest  classic  scholars  in  the  northwest.  His 
translations  from  the  Greek  have  won  him  an  enviable  reputation  as 
a  close  student,  while  his  contributions  to  general  literature  stamp 
him  as  a  writer  of  undoubted  merit. 

Socially  he  is  very  genial,  and  is  very  much  liked  by  all  who  know 
him ;  and  he  is  at  once  a  capable,  intelligent  and  industrious  public 
officer,  and  a  popular,  much-esteemed  gentleman. 
5 


66  THE   CHICAGO    BAR. 


WILLIAM  B.  SNOWHOOK. 

THIS  well-known  gentleman  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1817,  and 
came  to  New  York  without  the  aid  of  relatives  or  friends,  when  but 
eight  years  of  age.  His  life  from  that  time  has  been  a  very  eventful 
one  in  many  respects.  He  early  commenced  reading  law,  but  all  the 
time  carried  on  some  other  business.  He  was  a  contractor  while  in 
the  East,  and  later,  was  the  same  in  connection  with  William  B. 
Ogden  and  others  on  the  Lake  Michigan  canal.  He  has  been  in  the 
commission  business,  and  various  other  pursuits,  but  always  kept  up 
his  legal  studies.  He  was  Collector  of  Customs  under  Polk  and 
Pierce,  and  has  also  held  other  public  offices  of  trust  and  consequence. 
In  1857  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  after  which  he  spent  two  years 
in  the  law  department  of  the  Chicago  University,  and  graduated 
with  honor. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  all  this  persistence  has  had 
its  reward.  Mr.  Snowhook  is  now  not  only  a  very  able  and  respected 
lawyer,  but  a  very  successful  one.  He  has  obtained  a  very  good 
scholastic  education,  in  addition  to  his  legal  one  ;  and  by  his  energy 
has  secured  a  very  handsome  competence.  He  is  a  very  hard  worker, 
coming  to  his  office  at  six  in  the  summer  and  seven  in  the  winter,  and 
his  habit  is  to  devote  himself  to  his  business  until  night  without 
intermission.  As  an  example  of  what  energy,  determination  and 
perseverance  can  accomplish,  Mr.  Snowhook  stands,  at  the  Chicago 
bar,  with  scarcely  a  rival. 


LAMBERT    TREE.  67 


LAMBERT   TREE. 

MR.  TREE  is  a  graduate  of  Columbia  College,  in  Washington. 
He  studied  law  with  James  Carlyle,  who  is  now  a  leading  practitioner 
before  the  Supreme  Court  at  the  national  capital.  He  read  law  two 
years,  and  then  graduated  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  the  law 
department.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1855,  and  in  time  became  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Tree  &  Clarkson. 

Mr.  Tree  is  a  very  affable  and  scholarly  member  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession. He  has  fine  abilities,  and,  prior  to  his  late  visits  to  Europe, 
he  was  a  close  student  and  a  ready  practitioner.  He  is  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  very  ample  fortune,  and  his  time  is  much  occupied  by  the 
management  of  his  private  interests,  but  nevertheless  he  gives  his 
attention  to  office  business,  and  in  this  direction  is  very  constantly 
engaged.  He  goes  into  court  but  little,  and  has  a  large  business  in 
the  line  of  real  estate  practice,  and  the  management  of  the  legal  affairs 
of  several  heavy  corporations.  He  is  an  easy,  fluent  conversational- 
ist, a  gentleman  of  fine  general  cultivation,  and  a  very  respected  citi- 
zen. Were  he  thrown  on  his  own  resources,  and  obliged  to  make  his 
way  in  life  by  his  own  abilities,  he  would  achieve  a  decided  success 
in  the  legal  or  any  other  department  of  effort. 


68  THE   CHICAGO   BAR. 


D.  L.  SHOREY. 

THIS  gentleman  takes  a  very  excellent  rank  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  is 
a  man  who  is  very  much  respected  and  trusted  by  those  who  know 
him.  He  is  a  native  of  Maine,  graduated  in  the  class  of  1851 
at  Dartmouth  College,  and  came  West  in  1855.  He  studied  law 
at  Cambridge,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Boston,  in  1854. 
He  removed  to  Chicago  in  1865.  For  three  years,  while  in  Daven- 
port, Iowa,  he  was  City  Attorney,  which  is  the  only  office  he  has  ever 
held,  although  since  being  here  he  has  been  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  a  judicial  position.  He  prepares  and  tries  his  own  cases,  is  a 
lawyer  of  a  high  order  of  character,  and  has  established  a  fine  repu- 
tation since  his  short  residence  in  Chicago.  He  is  regarded  as  a  very 
able  man  ;  is  very  quiet,  and  has  very  high  judicial  abilities. 


JOSEPH    B.    LEAKE.  69 


JOSEPH   B.  LEAKE. 

MR.  LEAKE  is  essentially  a  Western  man,  although  of  Eastern 
birth,  having  been  a  resident  of  various  Western  States  since  eight 
years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Cumberland  county,  New  Jersey,  on 
the  ist  day  of  April,  1828.  In  1836  the  family  removed  to  Cincin- 
nati, and  from  that  time  Mr.  Leake  has  been  identified  with  the  West. 

He  received  his  preparatory  education  in  the  schools  of  Cincin- 
nati ;  graduated  at  Miami  College,  Oxford,  Ohio,  in  the  class  of 
1846;  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Groesbeck  &  Telford,  of  Cincin- 
nati ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  Janu- 
ary 16,  1850;  and  practiced  law  in  Cincinnati  until  1856.  Induced 
by  failing  health  to  seek  a  change  of  climate,  he  removed  to  Daven- 
port, Iowa,  and  opened  an  office,  devoting  himself  with  great  assi- 
duity to  building  up  a  lucrative  business.  At  the  special  war  session 
in  May,  1861,  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
the  same  fall  was  elected  member  of  the  Senate.  He  served  through 
the  session  commencing  January,  1862,  and  at  the  close  was  elected 
President  of  the  Senate  pro  tern. 

At  the  second  call  of  the  President  in  the  summer  of  1862  for 
more  men,  Mr.  Leake  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  recruited  a 
company,  of  which  he  was  elected  Captain,  and  mustered  into  the 
2oth  Iowa  Infantry.  He  was  immediately  afterward  commissioned 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  as  such  commanded  the  regiment  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  serving  in  the  Army  of  the  frontier  at  Vicksburg, 
and  then  with  the  Army  of  the  Gulf  until  the  capture  of  Mobile. 
Mr.  Leake's  war  record  is  a  good  one,  he  having  been  breveted  Brig- 
adier-General of  volunteers  for  bravery  on  the  field.  In  July,  1865, 
he  was  mustered  out  of  service,  and  returned  to  his  home  in  Daven- 
port. He  had  no  sooner  removed  his  uniform  than  he  was  again  in 
the  office,  and  was  ready  to  resume  professional  business.  At  the 
general  election  held  the  same  fall,  he  was  again  sent  to  the  Senate, 
and  served  through  the  session,  commencing  January,  1866,  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  In  1867,  the  lawyer  getting  the 
ascendancyover  the  politician,  Mr.  Leake  resigned  his  seat  in  the 


70  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

Senate  and  retired  to  private  life,  devoting  himself,  with  a  good  deal 
of  quiet  energy,  to  the  law,  which  in  return  gave  him  a  large  and 
remunerative  practice.  He  was  elected  attorney  for  the  county, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  his  removal  to  Chicago  in  Novem- 
ber, 1871. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Leake  occupies  a  good  position,  both  as  a  coun- 
selor and  an  advocate.  His  opinions  are  reliable  and  his  judgment 
correct.  He  is  well  read,  and  devotes  himself  entirely  to  his  profes- 
sion. As  yet  he  has  developed  no  specialty  in  practice,  but  does  a 
general  business,  and  is  considered  equally  good  in  any  branch  of 
the  law.  In  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Leake  is  a  tall,  well-built, 
handsome  blond,  still  young,  and  looking  younger  than  figures  would 
indicate  to  be  his  age.  He  is  quiet,  unobtrusive  and  courteous  in 
manner,  and  is  equally  at  home  in  the  role  of  lawyer  or  dispensing 
the  general  amenities  of  social  life. 


GRANT    GOODRICH.  71 


GRANT    GOODRICH. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  youngest  of  twelve  children,  and 
was  born  in  Milton,  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  August  7,  1812. 
When  four  years  old,  his  father  moved  to  Chautauqua  county,  pur- 
chased a  large  tract  of  land  and  settled  upon  it.  Being  a  man  of 
great  energy  and  spirit,  and  especially  active  in  the  promotion  of 
education,  he  had  a  school  taught  in  his  own  house  two  winters, 
which,  with  his  own  and  a  few  of  the  neighbors'  children,  had  a  very 
respectable  roll-call. 

Until  fifteen  he  attended  the  county  schools,  when  symptoms  of 
consumption  —  a  hereditary  disease  —  showing  themselves,  he  aban- 
doned school  and  went  on  to  the  lakes.  He  had  since  boyhood  been 
enamored  with  the  ideal  sailor's  life,  but  this  little  experience  in  the 
actual  duties  of  a  seaman  not  only  cured  his  lungs  but  his  relish  for 
the  water,  and  he  returned  from  his  trip  converted  to  a  full  belief  in  , 
the  substantial  superiority  of  land  over  water. 

He  immediately,  upon  his  return,  entered  the  academy  at  West- 
field,  and  remained  two  years  and  a  half;  then  went  into  the  law 
office  of  Dixon  &  Smith,  staying  with  them  until  he  came  to  Chicago, 
in  1834. 

He  first  entered  into  partnership  with  A.  N.  Fullerton,  but  at  the 
expiration  of  a  year  dissolved  it,  and  formed  a  copartnership  with 
Judge  Spring,  which  continued  until  shortly  previous  to  his  election 
as  Judge.  In  the  crash  of  1837  Mr.  Goodrich  was  heavily  involved, 
but  by  hard  work  and  an  invincible  honesty  these  obligations  were 
met,  and  not  only  principal  but  interest  were  paid.  He  was  very 
successful  professionally,  and  until  1857  his  practice  grew  constantly 
larger  and  more  profitable;  but  in  1858  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
it  and  go  abroad  to  recuperate,  the  severe  labors  of  the  preceding 
years  having  told  heavily  on  his  health. 

As  a  lawyer  and  Judge,  Mr.  Goodrich's  reputation  is  unsurpassed. 
He  is  positive,  radical  and  unflinching  in  everything  he  undertakes, 
and  if  success  be  secured  by  energy,  determination  and  hard  work,  it 
it  is  a  foregone  conclusion. 


72  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

At  present  he  devotes  himself  to  office  business  mainly,  retiring 
on  his  well  earned  laurels  and  wealth  to  an  easier  life. 

He  is  an  earnest  Methodist,  and  attends  to  spiritual  matters  with 
the  same  earnestness  and  energy  that  have  characterized  his  treat- 
ment of  temporal  things.  In  fine,  he  is  a  good  lawyer,  a  just  Judge, 
a  genial  gentleman,  and  being  wealthy,  enjoys  himself  without  allow- 
ing anything  to  greatly  trouble  him. 


E.  B.  SHERMAN. 

MR.  SHERMAN  is  a  native  of  Vermont,  passed  his  early  years  upon 
a  farm.  Graduated  in  1860  at  Middlebury  College  with  honors,  and 
subsequently  from  the  Chicago  Law  University.  He  engaged  for  a 
time  in  teaching,  in  which  he  became  distinguished,  and  was  in  the 
army  during  the  war.  He  is  a  hard  worker,  a  gentlemen  of  a  very 
high  order  of  attainments,  and  a  finished  scholar.  Thoroughly  hon- 
est and  reliable,  and  entering  with  great  energy  and  enthusiasm  upon 
whatever  he  undertakes,  he  has  built  up  a  large  practice,  and  is  rising 
rapidly  in  the  profession.  He  is  well  known  as  a  public  speaker  in 
many  parts  of  the  State,  has  had  some  experience  in  journalism,  and 
perhaps  fine  oratorical  and  literary  abilities.  Immediately  after  the 
great  fire,  he  was  selected  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  as  a 
member  of  the  Relief  Committee,  and  as  its  Secretary  he  performed 
an  immense  amount  of  labor,  discharging  the  difficult  and  perplex- 
ing duties  of  the  position  with  eminent  ability,  and  received  therefor 
the  most  flattering  commendations  of  the  highest  officers  of  that 
fraternity. 


BENJAMIN    D.    MAGRUDER.  73 


BENJAMIN    D.  MAGRUDER. 

THIS  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Mississippi,  having  been  born 
near  Natchez,  but  in  Jefferson  County,  Sept.  27,  1838.  His 
early  boyhood  was  spent  on  his  father's  plantation,  which  had  been 
in  the  family  since  the  early  part  of  the  present  century.  His  father, 
W.  H.  N.  Magruder,  a  graduate  of  the  Wesleyan  University,  of  Mid- 
dletown,  Connecticut,  and  college  professor,  was  his  preceptor,  and 
prepared  him  for  college  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen,  at  which  time 
he  went  to  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  and  entered  Yale  College.  He 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1856,  and  immediately  after  returned 
to  his  Southern  home.  His  father  in  the  meantime  had  opened  a 
private  collegiate  institute  at  Baton  Rouge,  and  the  three  years  fol- 
lowing were  spent  in  teaching,  and  studying  law.  The  last  year,  Mr. 
Magruder  attended  the  Law  School  of  the  University  of  Louisiana 
at  New  Orleans,  and  graduated,  valedictorian,  in  1859.  In  August 
of  the  same  year,  he  went  to  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  opened  a  law 
office,  having  barely  attained  his  majority.  His  extreme  youthfulness, 
which  had  not  prevented  his  passing  a  brilliant  examination,  was  res- 
ponsible for  a  tardy  practice,  and  in  1860,  he  accepted  a  situation  in 
the  office  of  Master  of  Chancery,  which  position  he  occupied  till  the 
war  broke  out  in  1861.  Fifteen  days  after  the  fall  of  Sumpter  he 
left  Memphis  and  went  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where,  in  the  home  of 
his  grandfather,  Rev.  Dr.  Heman  Bangs,  he  found  a  warm  welcome. 
This  course  was  most  seriously  criticised  by  his  Southern  friends,  but 
the  principles,  imbibed  from  old  Yale  and  his  New  England  grand- 
parents, and  his  convictions  of  right,  were  stronger  than  ties  of  blood 
or  partisan  feeling,  and  Mr.  Magruder,  with  the  conscientiousness 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  the  man,  maintained  his  loyalty  to  his 
country,  and  came  North. 

In  June,  1861,  he  came  to  Chicago,  commenced  the  practice  of 
law,  and  since  that  time  has  devoted  himself  entirely  to  his  profession. 
During  the  war,  when  sectional  feeling  ran  so  high,  Mr.  Magruder, 
whose  political  convictions  were  radical  in  the  extreme,  but  who  was 
bound  by  ties  of  blood  to  the  South,  could  not  bring  himself  to  take 


74  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

up  arms  against  them,  and,  therefore,  avoided  all  political  notice  and 
discussion,  and  confined  himself  exclusively  to  business.  Upon  the 
death  of  Judge  William  Mather  in  1868,  he  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor as  Master  of  Chancery,  which  office  he  now  holds,  and  in 
addition  to  the  onerous  duties  of  the  office,  attends  to  a  large  and 
constantly  increasing  practice. 

Mr.  Magruder  is  still  a  very  young  man,  but  with  the  position  he 
has  already  achieved,  and  the  more  than  ordinary  ability  he  pos- 
sesses, there  is  not  a  fairer  prospect  before  any  member  of  the  pro- 
fession. He  is  a  very  acute  reasoner,  and  a  diligent  student,  and 
especially  happy  in  the  selection  of  facts  and  cases  which  illustrate  a 
point  or  prove  a  precedent. 

Mr.  Magfuder's  personal  appearance  is  pleasing,  and  his  manner 
polished  and  courteous.  He  has  the  jetty  hair  and  beard,  piercing 
black  eye,  and  colorless  olive  skin  which  we  associate  with  warm 
climates  ;  and  he  has  also  the  quick  temper,  the  genial  hospitality 
and  open  generosity  which  characterizes  the  well  bred  Southerner. 


GEORGE  HERBERT. 

HE  is  a  native  of  Maine,  and  is  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He 
comes  of  a  legal  family,  which  reaches  back  through  several  genera- 
tions, while  his  father  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  of  his 
native  State.  He  graduated  at  Amherst,  and  soon  after  commenced 
the  practice  of  law,  and  at  once  took  a  leading  position  in  the  pro- 
fession. About  twenty  years  ago  he  came  to  Chicago.  For  a  time, 
he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business,  but  of  late  years  has  devoted  him- 
self exclusively  to  law  practice.  He  is  a  thoroughly  well-read  law- 
yer, and  possesses  eminently  a  legal  mind,  which  comprehends  legal 
principles,  as  it  were,  by  intuition,  and  is  quick  to  apply  them  to  the 
case  in  point.  He  is  very  prominent  and  influential  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  and  a  gentleman  who  has  superior  cultivation  and 
very  fine  social  qualities. 


HENRY    S.    MONROE.  75 


HENRY  S.  MONROE. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Baltimore,  and  is  now  about  forty 
years  of  age.  He  read  law  in  the  office  of  the  well-known  Henry  R. 
Mygatt,  at  Oxford,  in  Chenango  county,  New  York.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  that  place  in  1854,  and  immediately  after 
removed  to  Chicago,  and  has,  since  that  time,  been  a  resident  of  this 
city,  and  has  devoted  himself  wholly  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Mr.  Monroe  is  one  of  our  best-known  and  most  popular  citizens. 
He  is  very  affable  in  his  manners,  is  a  bibliopholist  of  some  consider- 
able note,  and  occupies  a  very  superior  position  as  a  lawyer.  In  this 
respect  he  has  achieved  a  very  decided  success,  and  has  succeeded  in 
acquiring  a  very  handsome  fortune  by  his  industry  in  his  profession. 
He  has  devoted  himself  very  largely  to  real  estate  law ;  and  herein 
has  proved  himself  not  only  thoroughly  reliable,  of  excellent  judg- 
ment, but  a  manager  of  no  second-rate  ability.  He  is  very  shrewd, 
far-seeing  and  calculating  ;  a  man  of  wondrous  industry,  knows  what 
legal  principles  are  applicable  to  the  case  in  hand,  prepares  all  his 
cases  with  the  utmost  care,  and  knows  what  external  influences  are 
to  be  met,  controlled  or  conciliated.  He  has  risen  to  his  present 
position  solely  by  his  own  energy ;  and  now  that  he  has  secured  it, 
he  holds  it  easily,  and  makes  the  most  of  his  surroundings.  He  is 
as  good  a  judge  of  a  horse  as  of  a  piece  of  real  estate,  which  is  pay- 
ing his  knowledge  of  the  former  the  highest  possible  compliment.  In 
fine,  he  is  an  excellent  lawyer,  a  very  popular  gentleman,  and  a  man 
of  fine  tastes,  and  given  to  the  pursuit  of  rational  enjoyments. 


76  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


EDWARD  ROBY. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Brockport,  N.  Y.,  in  1840.  In 
1857  he  entered  an  office  in  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  and  applied  him- 
self closely  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  1861  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Albany,  N.  Y.  In  1862,  his  health  failed,  accompanied  by 
a  serious  affection  of  the  eyes,  which  necessitated  an  entire  with- 
drawal from  study.  He  left  the  office  and  went  to  the  oil  regions, 
where  he  engaged  in  manufactures  and  other  general  business  until 
1865,  when  he  again  commenced  his  professional  work,  came  to  Chi- 
cago, and  opened  an  office. 

Like  all  large  cities,  Chicago  was  full  of  struggling  young  lawyers, 
who  were  to  rise  or  fall  as  their  own  ability  should  determine;  but 
Mr.  Roby,  undaunted  by  the  unsuccessful  numbers  who  had  come 
and  gone,  remained,  determined  to  succeed,  and  succeed  in  Chicago. 
He  possessed  none  of  the  dash  which  pushes  a  man  into  sudden 
notoriety  or  success,  and  three  years  passed  without  his  having 
gained  more  than  ordinary  success.  During  this  time  he  had  specu- 
lated some  in  real  estate.  By  this  means  his  attention  was  first 
called  to  the  loose  and,  as  he  believed,  illegal  way  in  which  the 
revenue  laws  were  administered.  He  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
the  law  pertaining  to  the  subject,  and  mastered  every  detail,  decid- 
ing that  here  was  a  field  of  action  which  could  be  successfully 
worked.  In  1868  he  was  retained  as  counsel  in  his  first  tax  suit, 
and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  won  his  first  case  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois.  The  next  year  he  had  twenty-one  cases,  the  fol- 
lowing year  eighty-three,  and  in  1871  one  hundred  and  seventeen, 
all  of  which  were  carried  through  successfully,  with  the  exception  of 
fifteen.  Among  the  most  noted  of  these  was  that  of  Rich  vs.  Chicago, 
which  became  the  leading  case  on  special  assessments  and  eminent 
domain,  reversing,  on  constitutional  grounds,  all  the  special  assess- 
ment cases  found  in  the  ordinary  records,  with  four  or  five  exceptions. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  is  considered  well  read,  competent  and  industri- 
ous ;  an  opponent,  who,  if  patience,  persistence  and  hard  work  will 
win  a  case,  is  hard  to  beat.  He  makes  no  pretensions  as  a  speaker ; 


EDWARD    ROBY.  77 

in  fact,  never  makes  an  argument  before  a  jury,  but  in  any  matter 
which  requires  minute  investigation,  exact  knowledge  of  the  law  and 
authorities,  unwearied  industry,  and  a  pertinacity  which  never  yields 
a  point  without  strenuous  resistance,  he  is,  perhaps,  without  a  rival. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Roby  looks  more  like  a  college  pro- 
fessor or  literateur  than  the  wiry,  hard-working  lawyer.  He  is  of 
medium  height  and  slender  build.  His  face  is  thin,  an  incipient 
baldness  giving  an  appearance  of  additional  height  to  the  forehead 
and  a  long  look  to  the  face.  Keen,  small,  dark  eyes  restlessly  take 
observations  on  everything  passing.  A  projecting  chin  and  square 
jaw  give  an  expression  of  force  and  character  to  a  face  otherwise 
almost  feminine  in  its  delicacy. 

His  mental  qualities  are  as  marked  as  his  features.  He  is  a  close 
observer,  an  indefatigable  worker,  keen,  cool  and  persistant ;  a  man 
who  will  not  stay  beaten  until  every  court  in  the  land  has  given  his 
case  a  hearing.  He  drives  a  good  pair  of  horses,  but  gives  little 
time  to  social  enjoyments,  devoting  himself  to  the  particular  lines  of 
his  profession  of  which  he  has  made  a  specialty,  and  in  which  he  has 
achieved  very  substantial  success. 


78  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


JAMES  B.  BRADWELL. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  England  in  1828,  and  came  to  this 
country  when  but  sixteen  months  old.  He  removed  to  Illinois  in 
1834,  and  has  been  in  the  West  and  South  since  that  time.  He 
began  the  study  of  law  in  Memphis,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Chicago  in  1853.  He  is  a  tall,  fine-looking  gentleman,  with  dark  eyes, 
beard  and  hair.  He  is  widely  known  for  his  progressive  views  on 
some  of  the  prominent  questions  of  the  day,  and  is  thoroughly  liked 
and  respected  by  those  who  know  him. 

He  served  as  Probate  Judge  for  eight  years,  and  while  in  this 
position  he  collected  a  library  of  probate  law  that  is  second  to  but 
one  or  two  in  this  country.  In  his  knowledge  of  probate  law  especi- 
ally, he  has  no  superior  in  this  place  or  any  other,  and  his  moral 
courage,  like  his  thorough  honesty,  is  of  the  very  highest  order. 


EVARTS  VAN  BUREN. 

JUDGE  Van  Buren  was  born  in  Kinderhook,  New  York,  in  1803. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1827,  when  he  removed  to  Penn  Yan, 
where  he  was  thrown  among  some  of  the  best  legal  and  political  men 
of  the  day.  In  1836  he  removed  to  Buffalo;  in  1840  he  went  back 
to  Penn  Yan ;  in  1856  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  in  1861  he  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  Recorder's  Court.  After  serving  one  term,  he  resumed 
the  practice  of  law,  in  which  he  is  now  engaged.  He  is  one  of  our 
oldest  and  best  known  practitioners,  and  has  passed  an  eventful  life, 
in  which  he  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  politics,  and  in  some  crim- 
inal suits,  which,  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence,  attained  a  world- 
wide notoriety.  In  his  private  life  he  is  a  very  genial  gentleman, 
and  as  such  he  is  very  much  liked  by  those  who  have  his 
acquaintance. 


JOSEPH    P.    CLARKSON.  79 


JOSEPH   P.  CLARKSON. 

THIS  lawyer  is  a  graduate  of  St.  James  College,  Maryland,  and 
studied  law  in  Hagarstown,  in  the  same  State.  He  came  to  Chicago 
in  1851,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  then  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  Buckner  S.  Morris.  After  a  while  Robert  Hervey  was 
added  to  the  firm,  and  it  thus  remained  until  Judge  Morris  went  on 
the  bench.  At  the  present  time,  Mr.  Clarkson  is  the  senior  member 
of  the  firm  of  Clarkson  &  Van  Schaack. 

Mr.  Clarkson  is  a  gentleman  about  fifty  years  of  age,  with  a 
countenance  indicative  of  great  energy  and  intelligence.  He  is  a 
very  capable  and  excellent  lawyer,  who  prepares  a  case  with  extreme 
fidelity,  regardless  of  the  amount  of  labor  involved  or  the  time  to  be 
consumed.  He  also  tries  it  carefully  and  thoroughly,  and  although 
effective  before  a  jury,  his  chief  excellence  lies  in  the  direction  of  a 
legal  argument  before  a  court.  He  is  the  only  lawyer  in  Chicago 
who  has  ever  done  anything  in  the  line  of  dramatic  and  trade-mark 
copyright  cases.  He  has  handled  several  very  important  ones  that 
have  occurred  in  Chicago  courts,  and,  it  may  be  added,  in  each  case 
with  entire  success.  In  fine,  he  is  a  gentleman,  who,  in  his  profes- 
sional and  private  life  is  entitled  to,  and  who  receives  a  very  general 
and  very  cordial  support. 


80  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


ELLIOT  ANTHONY. 

THIS  lawyer  is  an  author  of  some  note,  and  a  gentleman  of  very 
considerable  ability  in  many  respects.  He  has  industry,  and  will 
work  up  everything  there  may  be  in  a  case.  He  spares  nothing  in 
this  direction,  and  can  be  relied  on  for  perseverance,  and  a  conscien- 
tious performance  of  whatever  he  may  have  to  do.  He  leaves  nothing 
unfinished.  His  preparation  of  the  complicated  details  growing  from 
a  litigation  to  prevent  the  consolidation  of  the  Galena  and  North- 
western railroads  is  a  marvel  in  its  completeness  and  elaboration,  and 
as  such  has  received  recognition  by  the  entire  bar  of  the  country. 


E.  F.  RUNYAN. 

THIS  gentleman  is  probably  one  of  the  most  active  citizens  of 
Chicago,  and  one  of  the  most  busy  men  in  the  legal  profession,  in 
which  character  he  probably  tries  more  cases  than  any  other  lawyer  in 
Chicago.  As  a  lawyer  he  has  a  great  amount  of  shrewdness,  and  is 
excellently  well  posted  on  rules  of  practice.  He  is  about  forty  years 
of  age,  is  nervous,  angular,  and  always  tremendously  occupied.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  of  several  other  boards, 
and  of  almost  everything  else  of  a  public  character  in  Chicago  ;  and 
he  finds  time  to  attend  to  them  all,  and  to  adequately  care  for  the 
duties  of  his  profession. 


JOHN    LYLE   KING  —  THOMAS   PARKER,   JR.  8l 


JOHN  LYLE  KING. 

MR.  KING  was  born  in  Madison,  Indiana,  in  1823  ;  and  he  resided 
there  until  1856.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Indiana.  He  was  a  member  of  the  "  Long  Session"  of  the 
Indiana  Legislature,  and  voted  for  all  the  reforms  which  were  char- 
acteristic of  that  session.  He  was  city  attorney  in  Chicago  in  1860, 
under  John  Wentworth's  administration  ;  and  since  that  time  has 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  profession.  Mr.  King  is  tall, 
slender,  with  light  complexion  and  blue  eyes.  He  is  a  man  of  a 
good  deal  of  brains,  has  a  very  lucrative  general  practice,  ranks  high 
as  a  jury  lawyer,  and  is  very  much  liked  by  those  who  know  him. 


THOMAS  PARKER,  JR. 

THIS  gentleman  may  be  said  to  be  a  Western  man,  although  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  as  he  was  a  child  when  removed  to  the  West.  He 
is  now  about  twenty-six  years  old,  and  for  twenty-four  years  has  been 
a  resident  of  Chicago.  He  received  the  best  advantages  the  city 
afforded,  then  entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  but  finished  his  education  at  the  University  of  Chicago. 
Upon  his  graduation,  he  entered  the  Fifth  National  Bank  as  clerk, 
where  he  remained  about  a  year,  but  a  man  of  his  mercurial  temper- 
ament could  not  be  long  kept  posting  books  and  accounts.  He 
threw  up  his  situation,  and  entered  the  Chicago  Law  School,  and  in 
eight  months  from  the  time  he  began  study,  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  began  the  practice  of  the  law.  About  four  year  since  he  became 
the  junior  partner  in  the  firm  of  Ela  &  Parker. 

The  nervous  temperament  predominates;  he  is  quick  and  lithe 
in  movement,  sharp  in  speech,  apt  in  detecting  an  error,  and  rather 
6 


8z  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 

merciless  in  exposing  it.  He  is  polished  and  refined  in  manner,  is 
affable  and  social  in  a  high  degree,  and  possessing  an  ample  fortune, 
enjoys  life  to  the  utmost.  As  a  lawyer,  he  is  shrewd  and  active,  and, 
although  a  very  young  man  as  yet,  has  taken  a  good  position  as  an 
acute  and  prompt  business  manager.  His  firm  confines  itself  almost 
entirely  to  commercial  law,  and  in  its  specialty  is  favorably  known  in 
other  cities  as  well  as  Chicago. 


JOHN  W.  ELA. 

MR.  ELA  was  born  in  Meredith,  New  Hampshire,  and  is  about 
forty-five  years  of  age.  He  received  a  liberal  education  in  his  native 
State,  and  entered  the  law  school  of  Harvard,  Mass.,  and  graduated 
before  he  was  twenty-one.  On  his.  return  home,  he  became  a  partner 
of  Judge  Burroughs,  of  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  with  whom  he 
remained  until  1862,  when  he  entered  the  army  as  Captain  of  the 
i5th  N.  H.  Infantry.  He  was  in  active  service  about  eighteen 
months,  seeing  in  the  time  some  of  the  hottest  battles  of  the  war,  and 
was  then  appointed  Provost  Judge  in  the  Gulf  Department,  which 
position  he  held  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

At  that  time  he  came  to  Chicago  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of 
law. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Ela  occupies  a  prominent  position,  not  only  in 
Chicago,  but  throughout  the  State.  He  is  equally  good  either  in  pre- 
paring a  case,  presenting  it  to  a  court,  or  before  a  jury.  He  is  among 
the  first  of  the  profession  as  a  man  of  integrity,  industry  and  ability ; 
and  in  Real  Estate  and  Bankruptcy  Law,  of  which  he  makes  a  spec- 
ialty, he  has  perhaps  few  superiors.  That  he  is  successful,  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  is  a  real  estate  owner  to  some  considerable  extent 
in  this  city. 

In  private  life  Mr.  Ela  is  highly  esteemed  for  the  many  amiable 
qualities  he  possesses,  no  less  than  among  the  fraternity  as  a  lawyer 
fo  integrity  and  ability. 


ISAAC    G.    WILSON.  83 


ISAAC  G.  WILSON. 

JUDGE  WILSON  is  a  native  of  Western  New  York,  and  was  born 
in  1816.  He  graduated  from  Brown  University,  Providence,  R.  I.,  in 
1838.  While  in  College,  his  father,  Judge  Wilson,  removed  to  the 
West  and  settled  in  Northern  Illinois.  Upon  his  graduation,  the  son 
followed,  and  entered  the  office  of  Butterfield  and  Collins  as  a  stu- 
dent. After  remaining  with  them  a  year,  he  went  to  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  and  entered  the  law  school  there.  In  1841  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  Massachusetts,  and  immediately  after  returned  to  the 
West,  to  practice  his  profession.  Finding  Chicago  possessed  too 
large  a  proportion  of  professional  men  he  pushed  into  the  country 
and  located  at  Elgin,  in  this  State.  In  1850,  the  I3th  Circuit  — 
known  as  the  Kane  Circuit — was  created,  and  Mr.  Wilson  elected 
Judge,  which  office  he  continued  to  occupy  until  r867,  in  all,  seven- 
teen years.  Since  leaving  the  bench  Judge  Wilson  has  been  practic- 
ing in  Chicago,  and  at  present  is  senior  of  the  firm  of  Wilson,  Perry 
&  Sturgis. 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  a  successful  and  honorable  career. 
As  lawyer,  Judge  and  citizen,  Mr.  Wilson  has  possessed  the  unvary- 
ing esteem  and  confidence  of  all  classes.  He  is  a  superior  lawyer, 
well  learned  in  the  profession,  and  a  notably  successful  chancery  law- 
yer. He  has  no  especial  gifts  as  an  advocate,  but  as  counsellor  is 
safe  and  reliable,  and  inclined  to  be  pacific  rather  than  belligerent. 
He  seems  to  have  a  natural  aptness  for  the  duties  of  the  judge  in  a 
mental  organization  that  weighs  and  balances  rather  than  originates 
and  invents ;  and  he  can  write  an  opinion  better  than  he  can  make  a 
speech. 

He  is  well  read,  and  converses  fluently  on  any  and  all  topics. 
He  is  inclined  to  be  humorous,  and  relates  the  varied  experiences 
which  a  long  residence  in  the  country,  and  many  terms  upon  the 
bench  have  given,  with  an  evident  enjoyment. 

Judge  Wilson's  social  standing  is  fully  equal  to  his  professional 
status;  and  whether  in  public  or  private  life,  he  commands  the 
respect  and  wins  the  regard  of  the  professional  as  well  as  the  social 
world. 


84  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


DANIEL  GOODWIN,  JR. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  New  York  City  in  1832,  and  is  the 
son  of  John  W.  and  Lucretia  Goodwin  Woolsey,  but  at  two  years  of 
age,  losing  his  mother,  he  was  adopted  by  his  maternal  uncle,  Judge 
Daniel  Goodwin,  for  whom  he  was  named,  and  reared  by  him  as  his 
own  son.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  entered 
Hamilton  College  in  1848,  and  graduated  in  1852,  taking  the  prizes 
in  a  class  many  of  whom  have  achieved  prominent  positions  at  the 
bar,  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  in  politics  and  com- 
merce. He  studied  law  with  Judge  Goodwin  in  Detroit  till  1853, 
then  went  to  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1854  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  remained  with  his  uncle,  S.  A.  Goodwin,  in  Auburn,  until  1855, 
when  they  both  removed  to  Detroit,  and  formed  a  partnership  with 
Judge  Goodwin.  In  1858  they  came  to  Chicago,  and  entered  at 
once  into  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  In  1864  Mr.  Goodwin 
withdrew  from  the  firm  and  practiced  alone  until  1867,  when  he 
formed  a  connection  with  A.  L.  Rockwell,  which  still  exists,  under 
the  name  of  Goodwin  &  Rockwell. 

Mr.  Goodwin's  practice  has  been  general  in  character,  but  he  has 
a  decided  preference  for  real  estate  law.  Although  he  distinguished 
himself  at  college  as  an  orator,  he  has  a  distaste  for  the  wrangles  of 
the  court-room  and  the  artifices  of  politics,  which  has  had  a  tendency 
to  keep  him  in  the  office  rather  than  enter  the  noisy  but  more  showy 
fields  of  labor. 

Mr.  Goodwin  is  somewhat  distinguished  as  a  writer,  his  pen  never 
having  been  idle  since  his  college  days.  He  is  noted  also  for  his 
charitableness.  There  is  not  a  movement  of  this  nature  which  has 
applied  to  him  in  vain.  'His  hand  and  brain  and  money  are  always 
ready,  and  in  private  charities  his  generosity  is  proverbial.  He  has 
been  trustee  of  several  institutions,  and  has  occupied  many  positions 
of  trust  and  importance  both  under  the  city  and  State  governments, 
and  has,  under  all  circumstances,  acquitted  himself  with  honor  and 
hlat. 

His  personal  appearance  is  pleasing.     He  is  refined  in  manner, 


MARLAND    LESLIE    PERKINS.  85 

polished  in  conversation,  and  at  all  times  is  a  genial,  courteous  gen- 
tleman, whose  intellectual  attainments  are  admired  by  all  who  know 
him,  while  his  kindness  and  generosity  have  endeared  him  to  hosts 
of  friends,  and  made  him  one  of  the  most  popular  men  at  the  Chi- 
cago bar. 


MARLAND  LESLIE  PERKINS. 

THIS  young  gentleman  is  the  son  of  Dr.  Perkins,  of  Fremont, 
Tazewell  county,  Illinois,  and  is  now  about  thirty-five  years  old. 
He  is  tall,  straight,  and  very  dark,  with  straight  black  hair,  which  he 
wears  thrown  back,  a  keen,  black  eye,  Roman  nose,  and  high  cheek 
bones  Mr.  Perkins  claims  a  Mayflower-Indian  princess  pedigree, 
and  looking  at  his  strongly  marked  but  handsome  features,  his  erect, 
well-developed  figure,  swarthy,  colorless  complexion,  and  piercing 
eye,  one  may  easily  imagine  they  can  recognize  the  mark  of  the  In- 
dian progenitor. 

He  was  ready  for  college  at  the  precocious  age  of  twelve  years, 
and  entered  the  Freshman  Class  of  Jubilee  College,  Illinois,  at  thir- 
teen. He  did  not  remain  to  graduate,  deeming  the  studies  pre- 
scribed by  the  Senior  Course  unnecessary  and  of  no  practical  benefit. 
Leaving  at  the  expiration  of  the  Junior  Course,  he  went  to  Blooming- 
ton  and  taught  school  a  short  time,  then  commenced  the  study  of  the 
law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859,  and  began  practicing  in 
Chicago,  where  he  remained  until  September,  1861,  when  he  enlisted 
in  the  Ninth  Illinois  Cavalry,  winning  a  brilliant  reputation  as  a 
faithful  and  daring  officer.  The  last  six  months  of  his  term  of  ser- 
vice was  spent  at  Memphis,  as  J'ldge  Advocate  of  the  District  of 
West  Tennessee.  In  1864  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service,  his 
term  having  expired,  and  remained  in  Memphis,  determined  to  reside 
there  and  practice  his  profession.  Soon  after,  he  was  tendered  by 
General  Washburn,  Commander  of  the  District  of  Tennessee,  the 
office  of  Judge  of  the  Civil  Commission,  which  in  the  disorganized 
state  of  affairs  during  the  war,  took  the  place  of  the  Common  Law 
Court,  which  he  accepted  and  filled  acceptably  until  the  re-establish- 


86  THE   CHICAGO   BAR. 

ment  of  the  regular  courts.  In  1867  he  was  appointed  United  States 
District  Attorney  by  President  Johnson,  but  his  appointment  was  not 
confirmed  by  the  Senate.  In  1871  Mr.  Perkins  returned  to  Chicago 
and  resumed  practice  in  this  city.  He  is  now  of  the  firm  of  Merriam, 
Alexander  and  Perkins. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Perkins  is  well  spoken  of  by  his  seniors  and  asso- 
ciates, and  is  looked  upon  as  a  man  who  is  making  his  mark  among 
the  thousand  aspirants  for  pre-eminence  in  the  profession.  His 
tastes  incline  toward  admiralty  and  real  estate  practice,  in  which  he 
is  very  successful.  He  is  a  fluent  speaker,  witty  in  conversation 
quick  at  repartee,  elegant  in  dress,  and  rather  elaborately  courteous 
in  manner. 


DANIEL   GOODWIN. 

JUDGE  GOODWIN,  who  for  more  than  forty  years  occupied  a  dis- 
tinguished position  as  lawyer  and  Judge,  and  before  whcm  many  of 
the  Chicago  bar  have  practiced  in  the  courts  of  Michigan,  is  one 
whose  learning,  ability  and  purity  have  been  admired  by  all  who 
were  brought  in  contact  with  him.  He  was  the  eldest  child  of  Dr. 
Daniel  Goodwin,  of  Geneva,  N.  Y. ;  graduated  at  the  head  of  his 
class  in  1820;  studied  law  with  J.  C.  Spencer,  of  New  York.  He 
removed  to  Detroit  in  1828,  and  was  United  States  Attorney  under 
Presidents  Jackson  and  Van  Buren.  In  1843  he  was  made  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  court  of  Michigan.  In  1850  was  President  of  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  and  member  of  the  convention  of  1865.  In 
1855  he  was  re-elected  Judge  of  the  District  Court  for  the  upper 
peninsula  of  Michigan,  and  again  in  1856,  in  1862,  and  in  1868. 

He  is  a  man  of  remarkable  astuteness  as  a  lawyer  and  unblem- 
ished probity  as  a  Judge  and  politician.  In  private  as  in  public  life, 
his  name  has  been  untarnished  by  so  much  as  a  breath,  and  his  life  a 
monument  of  good  deeds. 


EDWARD    J.    HILL.  87 


EDWARD   J.   HILL. 

MR.  HILL,  who  is  perhaps  more  remarkable  as  a  writer  than  a 
practitioner,  is  a  native  of  New  York,  and  is  now  about  forty  years 
old.  He  graduated  from  the  University  of  Vermont  in  the  class  of 
1843.  He  then  read  law,  but  turned  his  attention  to  banking,  then 
to  general  merchandise,  forwarding  and  shipping,  by  which  means  he 
acquired  a  thorough  understanding  of  commercial  matters. 

His  practice  as  a  lawyer  did  not  commence  until  about  1859  or 
1860,  when  he  opened  an  office  at  Milwaukee.  He  succeeded 
admirably,  and  soon  won  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  -skillful  and 
persistent  lawyer.  In  1869  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  bids  fair  to 
attain  eminence  in  the  two-fold  character  of  writer  and  practitioner. 
As  a  counselor  he  is  much  esteemed  by  his  clients,  and  he  avoids 
rather  than  seeks  litigation. 

More  recently,  Mr.  Hill  has  left  the  beaten  track,  the  practice  in 
the  courts,  and  turned  his  attention  to  theoretical  law.  He  has 
already  given  to  the  public  three  volumes  which  ccmpetent  judges 
pronounce  the  most  thorough  and  practical  works  ever  produced  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  They  constitute  a  complete  set  of  practice 
works,  adapted  to  the  Law  of  Procedure  in  this  State.  No  other 
State  has  adhered  more  closely  to  English  practice  than  Illinois. 
The  practice  here  is,  therefore,  of  great  practical  value,  for  it  rests 
on  English  precedent,  and  involves  the  entire  scope  and  history  of 
English  jurisprudence. 

In  style  Mr.  Hill  is  terse  and  vigorous,  apt  in  his  illustrations, 
accurate  and  concise  in  statement,  with  no  unnecessary  repetition  — 
an  incredible  statement  to  the  uninitiated  reader  of  legal  lore. 

In  this  brief  notice  of  Mr.  Hill's  books  is  sketched  the  mental 
characteristics  of  the  man.  He  is  studious  and  industrious,  and  pos- 
sesses a  patience  and  coolness  temperamentally  that  finds  pleasure  in 
exhuming,  analyzing,  comparing  and  deducing,  —  a  most  laborious 
mental  process  unless  adapted  to  it  by  nature. 


88  THE   CHICAGO   BAR. 


HAMILTON    N.  ELDRIDGE. 

GENERAL  ELI>RIDGE  was  born  in  South  Williamstown,  Berkshire 
county,  Massachusetts,  and  is  now  thirty-eight  years  of  age.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  and  during  the  Mexican  war  held  the  rank  of 
Colonel.  His  son,  fitted  for  college  at  East  Hampton,  in  Massachu- 
setts, entered  Williams  in  1852,  and  graduated  four  years  later,  taking 
the  first  prize  of  his  class  for  elocution.  He  studied  law  under  Judge 
Ira  Harris,  and  his  brother,  Hamilton  Harris,  in  Albany,  New  York, 
and  graduated  at  the  law  school  in  the  same  place  in  1857.  He  came 
to  Chicago  the  same  year,  and  went  into  the  office  of  Baker  &  Hyatt, 
after  which  he  began  practice  by  himself.  In  1858  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  F.  W.  Tourtellotte,  and  with  whom  he  has  been  asso- 
ciated ever  since,  under  the  name  of  Eldridge  &  Tourtellotte. 

In  1862  he  entered  the  volunteer  service  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of 
the  i27th  Illinois  infantry;  and  three  weeks  later  he  took  command 
of  the  regiment,  and  was  promoted  to  Colonel  in  the  same  year.  At 
the  battle  of  Arkansas  Post,  he  and  his  regiment  were  first  inside  the 
Confederate  works ;  and  at  the  battles  before  Vicksburg,  in  May,  1863, 
he  took  the  colors,  after  all  the  color-guard  had  been  shot  down,  and 
led  his  regiment,  for  which  act  of  gallantry  he  was  made  a  Brevet 
Brigadier-General.  Since  his  retirement  from  the  army,  General 
Eldridge  has  assiduously  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  the  legal 
profession. 

He  is  above  medium  height,  with  light  hair  and  eyes,  regular 
features  and  full  beard.  In  his  manners  he  is  very  finished,  and 
possesses  affability  and  sociability  in  a  very  high  degree.  He  has  a 
decided  literary  taste,  and  is  not  only  especially  fond  of  poetry,  but 
a  poet  of  no  mean  order,  finding  in  pursuits  of  this  nature  rest  and 
recreation.  He  has  also  a  remarkable  memory,  and  can  repeat  ver- 
batum  et  literatum  from  all  the  classic  poets,  to  a  degree  limited  only 
by  his  leisure  and  inclination. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  occupies  a  very  conspicuous  position.  His  prac- 
tice, and  that  of  his  firm,  is  a  general  one,  embracing  every  variety 
of  cases;  in  a  single  morning  may  be  seen  in  their  office  the  million- 


HAMILTON    N.    ELDRIDGE.  89 

aire  and  the  day  laborer,  the  doctor  of  divinity  and  the  professional 
swindler,  each  waiting  for  advice  or  to  pay  a  retainer.  He  has  been 
engaged  in  a  good  many  very  important  cases,  among  which  the  most 
notorious  one  was  the  suit  of  Amanda  J.  Craig  against  Elisha  C. 
Sprague,  for  breach  of  promise,  and  in  which  the  firm  of  which  he  is 
a  member  obtained  the  largest  verdict  ever  known  in  suits  for  dam- 
ages—  $100,000.  His  success  in  this  suit  was  won  by  the  same 
indefatigable  industry,  the  same  care  in  the  preparation  of  the  case, 
and  the  same  devotion  which  he  shows  to  the  interests  of  his  clients 
in  all  his  practice.  He  is  not  only  a  successful  practitioner,  but  a 
thoroughly  intelligent  lawyer,  and  a  liberal,  courteous  gentleman. 


90  THE   CHICAGO   BAR. 


F.  W.  TOURTELLOTTE. 

THIS  gentleman  is  of  the  old  French  Hugonot  stock ;  his  ances- 
tors having  been  driven  to  America  in  the  seventeenth  century  by 
reason  of  religious  persecution  and  intolerance.  He  was  born  in 
Windham  county,  Connecticut,  and  received  a  thorough  classical 
and  scientific  education  in  the  best  schools  of  his  native  State  and 
of  Massachusetts.  He  afterwards  graduated  with  high  honors  at  the 
Albany  Law  University.  Immediately  thereafter,  in  1857,  he  removed 
to  Joliet  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law ;  from  whence,  on  the 
following  year,  he  removed  to  Chicago  and  formed  a  law  partnership 
with  General  H.  N.  Eldridge,  where  he  has  remained  in  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  until  the  pres- 
ent time,  having  succeeded,  in  the  meanwhile,  in  establishing  and 
maintaining  an  exceedingly  remunerative  and  extensive  legal  busi- 
ness, an  achievement  in  this  city  requiring  other  elements  of  success 
than  mere  luck. 

Mr.  Tourtellotte  was  elected  Major  of  the  izyth  regiment  of  Illinois 
volunteers,  during  the  late  war  of  the  Rebellion,  but  was  compelled, 
much  against  his  wishes,  to  decline  the  commission.  He  has  never 
been  a  partisan  politician,  and  has  always  steadily  refused  all  official 
patronage. 

Mr.  Tourtellotte  is  wholly  absorbed  in  the  business  of  his  profes- 
sion, into  which  he  directs  all  his  energies  and  skill.  He  is  in  the 
general  practice,  so  called,  making  a  specialty,  as  yet,  of  no  particu- 
lar branch  of  the  law,  if  we  may  except  commercial  law,  and  perhaps 
cases  arising  under  insurance  and  bankrupt  laws.  One  of  his  chief 
characteristics  as  a  practicing  attorney  is  the  versatility  of  his  legal 
talents.  Whether  in  the  Circuit  Courts  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
argument  of  an  abstruse  question  of  constitutional  law,  in  the  courts 
of  Admiralty,  in  the  various  courts  of  the  State,  or  before  a  jury,  he 
seems  equally  ready  and  efficient. 

He  never  allows  the  claims  of  a  client  to  suffer  at  his  hands,  if 
hard  work,  and  all  his  legal  skill  can  prevent  it,  for  he  prepares  his 
cases  with  great  care,  and  thoroughly  masters  the  legal  principles 


F.    W.    TOURTELLOTTE.  91 

involved  therein.  As  an  advocate,  and  in  the  trial  of  a  cause, 
whether  civil  or  criminal,  his  reputation  is  excellent ;  and  his  effi- 
ciency therein  is  nowhere  more  particularly  exemplified  than  in  his 
ability  to  frustrate  the  positions  of  his  antagonist,  and  to  turn  them 
to  his  own  advantage. 

He  is  a  close  student,  and  has  the  reputation  among  his  legal 
brethren  of  possessing  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  nearly  all 
branches  of  the  law  ;  he  is  familiar  with  the  details  of  practice,  and 
has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  business  and  men. 

Mr.  Tourtellotte  is  painstaking  and  laborious  in  whatever  direc- 
tion his  professional  services  may  be  employed ;  and  he  has  proved 
himself  an  indispensable  auxiliary  in  the  important  and  extended 
interests  committed  to  the  firm  of  which  he  is  a  member.  As  a 
lawyer  he  has  a  rising  reputation,  which  the  large  number  of  import- 
ant causes  constantly  being  committed  to  the  care  and  management 
of  the  firm  to  which  he  belongs  abundantly  proves.  Nor  is  his  repu- 
tation a  local  one.  The  docket  of  his  firm  contains  the  names  of 
clients  from  all  parts  of  the  great  Nprthwest,  and  in  nearly  every 
State  court  therein. 

This  gentleman  is  thirty-five  years  of  age,  over  six  feet  in  height, 
with  an  erect  figure,  and  an  agreeable  and  expressive  countenance. 
He  is  dignified  in  his  bearing,  affable  in  his  manners,  fluent  in  his 
speech,  active  and  graceful  in  his  movements,  and  ambitious  of  suc- 
cess. A  little  energetic,  it  may  be,  sometimes,  in  his  gestures  and 
expressions,  when,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  or  otherwise,  an  opponent 
is  to  be  rebuked,  ignorance  to  be  exposed,  or  craft  to  be  thwarted, 
but  never  aggressive  or  unnecessarily  severe.  Sociability  and  a  fault- 
less generosity  are  distinguishing  traits  in  his  character. 

In  the  management  of  the  celebrated  case  of  Craig  vs.  Sprague 
he  took  an  active  and  prominent  part,  and  it  was  owing  to  his  indus- 
try and  superb  management,  as  also  the  firm  to  which  he  belongs, 
that  a  result  was  achieved  than  which  there  has  been  none  more 
remarkable  or  successful  in  the  record  of  litigation. 


92  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


E.  W.  EVANS. 

MR.  EVANS  was  born  in  Fryburg,  Oxford  county,  Maine ;  received 
a  preparatory  course  at  the  Fryburg  Academy,  and  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth College  in  the  class  of  1838. 

Immediately  after  his  graduation  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Judge  Chase,  in  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  where  he  remained  until  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar. 

In  1840,  he  came  West,  where  he  has  since  remained,  devoting 
himself  to  the  practice  of  law  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  and  indus- 
try that  have  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  profession,  and  secured 
him  a  very  substantial  pecuniary  position.  There  is  probably  not 
another  man  among  the  fraternity  who  is  so  thoroughly  the  lawyer  as 
Mr.  Evans.  Although  possessing  every  qualification  requisite  to  the 
successful  politician,  he  has  persistently  refused  every  inducement  to 
enter  the  political  field,  and  prides  himself  upon  the  fact  that  he  has 
never  allowed  himself  to  be  a  candidate  for  any  political  office.  In 
October,  1871,  he  received  a  letter,  couched  in  the  most  complimen- 
tary language  and  signed  by  many  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of  the 
city,  asking  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Judge  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County. 

Mr.  Evans  is  a  very  decided  character,  as  well  as  a  lawyer  of  very 
excellent  ability.  In  manners,  dress  and  appearance,  he  belongs  to 
the  old  school  of  gentlemen,  so  few  of  whom  now  remain. 

He  is  genial  and  courteous  in  his  personal  and  professional  rela- 
tions. In  these  he  stands  so  well  with  the  brethren  of  the  bar  that 
he  is  frequently  retained,  at  their  instance,  to  lead  them  in  their  own 
cases.  He  is  always  earnest,  forcible  and  effective  as  a  speaker, 
sometimes  rises  into  eloquence,  and  knows  how  to  wield  the  weapon 
of  invective  to  a  purpose.  He  summons  and  commands  his  resources 
readily  for  an  emergency,  and  especially  is  skilled  in  cross-examina- 
tion and  in  eliciting  the  full  truth  from  any  witness,  however  deter- 
mined he  may  be  to  conceal  the  same;  and,  generally,  with  his  ability 
and  success  in  trying  cases,  is  a  first-class  jury  lawyer.  Some  of  his 
later  cases  evince  this  fact  conspicuously.  Particularly  the  noted 


£.    W.   EVANS.  93 

cases  of  Wilkinson  vs.  The  Chicago  Tribune,  a  libel  suit  in  which  his 
printed  speech  remains  to  attest  his  oratory,  and  the  Zeigenmeyer 
murder  case,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself.  He  has  been  very 
successful  in  suits  for  damages  growing  out  of  personal  injuries,  and 
brought  against  corporations,  railroad  and  municipal;  and  there  are 
few  at  the  bar  who  can  aspire  to  rival  him  in  this  class  of  cases. 

His  arguments  in  the  Supreme  Court  are  as  effective,  generally,  as 
his  speeches  to  the  jury.  In  these  he  displays  the  finest  specimens 
of  his  logic  and  the  amplest  stores  of  his  learning,  and  he  may  well 
pride  himself  on  the  success  which  usually  attends  him  in  the  court 
of  last  resort.  He  is  a  great  reader,  and  a  gentleman  of  culture  out- 
side of  his  profession,  and  devotes  all  his  leisure  moments  to  general 
literature. 


THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


THOS.  J.  TURNER. 

THOMAS  JOHNSTON  TURNER  was  born  in  Trumbull  county,  Ohio, 
on  the  5th  day  of  April,  A.D.  1815.  The  country  at  that  time  was 
almost  an  unbroken  forest,  yet  with  the  enterprise  which  character- 
ized the  "  Western  Reserve,"  the  log  school-house  followed  the  pio- 
neer into  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  wilderness,  and  at  the  age  of 
ten  years  Mr.  Turner  had  acquired  something  of  a  common-school 
education.  At  that  time  he  removed,  with  his  parents,  to  Butler 
county,  Penn.,  where,  owing  to  the  necessities  of  the  family,  he  was 
put  to  work  at  farming.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  left  home,  and 
traveled  on  foot  to  Chicago,  ariving  there  about  the  ist  of  May,  A.D. 
1833,  but  finding  Chicago  little  else  than  a  swamp,  he  returned  to 
La  Porte  county,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  until  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  old,  when,  mainly  by  his  efforts,  his  father's  family  were 
removed  to  the  West  and  comfortably  settled.  This  done,  he  struck 
out  for  himself.  He  spent  one  year  in  Dubuque  and  Western  Wis- 
consin, engaged  in  mining  and  building  bellows  for  the  first  blast 
furnaces  built  in  the  lead  mines.  In  the  spring  of  1836,  having 
accumulated  a  little  money,  he  settled  in  Stephenson  county,  Illinois, 
and  engaged  in  the  building  of  mills,  but  in  the  fall  of  1837,  the 
floods  having  swept  away  his  mills  and  left  him  largely  in  debt,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  law.  At  this  time  he  had  picked 
up  a  sort  of  general  education  from  close  study  of  such  books  as 
came  within  his  reach.  In  the  spring  of  1840  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  settled  in  Freeport,  where  he  soon  secured  an  excellent 
practice,  and  held  the  offices  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Probate 
Justice.  About  this  time  Mr.  Turner  was  appointed  State's 
Attorney  by  Governor  Ford,  and  he  at  once  entered  upon  the 
discharge  of  its  duties,  and  became  very  successful  in  bringing 
to  justice  offenders.  During  his  term  of  office  the  gang  of  thieves 
and  robbers  which  infested  the  Rock  River  country  were  broken 
up,  and  the  murderers  of  Colonel  Davenport  tried  and  executed. 
In  1846  Mr.  Turner  was  elected  to  Congress  upon  the  Democratic 
ticket,  where  he  served  one  term,  and  then  retired  to  the  practice  of 


.  THOS.    J.    TURNER.  95 

law.  In  1854  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  made 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Peace  Conference  in  1861  ;  returning  from  Washington,  he  was  made 
Colonel  of  the  Fifteenth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteers,  and  had  the 
first  three  years'  regiment  mustered  into  the  service.  He  soon  after 
took  command  of  a  camp  of  instruction  at  Alton ;  afterwards  com- 
manded a  brigade,  and  then  the  First  Division  of  the  Army  of  the 
West.  He  remained  in  the  service  until  the  fall  of  1862,  when  he 
was  forced  to  resign  on  account  of  ill  health.  After  his  health  was 
restored  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Convention  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  Illinois  in  1870,  and 
rendered  efficient  service  in  the  adoption  of  most  of  the  reforms  in 
that  instrument.  In  1871  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator  against  General  Logan,  the  Republican  candidate. 
In  July,  1871,  Mr.  Turner  opened  an  office  in  Chicago,  where  he 
now  resides.  Until  coming  to  Chicago  his  practice  extended  over  a 
number  of  counties,  and  included  all  classes  of  cases.  His  tastes 
and  habits  incline  him  to  'chancery,  in  which  department  he  has  had 
an  extensive  practice.  As  a  lawyer,  Col.  Turner  is  careful,  pains- 
taking and  reliable. 

He  has  a  refined,  scholarly  face,  and  in  manner  he  is  dignified  and 
suave.  He  is  a  devoted  reader  still,  and  a  good  deal  of  a  bibliophil- 
ist,  having  possessed,  at  the  time  of  the  fire,  one  of  the  best  selected 
libraries  in  the  West. 


96  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 


JOHN   V.  LE  MOYNE. 

This  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  now  about  forty- 
five  years  of  age.  His  father  was  a  prominent  politician  and  an  old 
resident  of  Washington  county,  and  Mr.  Le  Moyne  received  the  two- 
fold advantage  of  good  scholastic  training  and  the  early  association  of 
cultured,  thinking  men.  He  graduated  from  Washington  College  in 
1847  ;  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  came  directly  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  been  long  and 
favorably  known  as  a  lawyer  of  excellent  standing  and  ability.  He 
is  thoroughly  well  read,  and  is  equally  effective  before  a  jury  or  pre- 
senting an  argument  before  a  court,  and  is  a  very  assiduous  and  suc- 
cessful practitioner. 

Mr.  Le  Moyne  is  rather  over  the  medium  size,  and  rather  heavily 
built.  He  has  black  hair  and  eyes,  and  a  countenance  indicative  of 
force  of  character,  and  in  manner  he  is  agreeable  and  cultivated. 


JOHN  J.  McKINNON. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and 
received  his  preparatory  education  there.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Jesuit  College  of  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  also  of  St. 
Rheims,  France.  Upon  his  return  from  Europe,  he  studied  law  with 
Nicholas  Hill,  of  Albany,  New  York,  and  then  with  Christian  Rozi- 
lius,  of  New  Orleans,  and  finally  with  Swett  &  Orme,  in  Blooming- 
ton,  Illinois.  He  came  to  Chicago  from  New  York  in  1848,  and  has 
since  resided  in  the  West. 

Mr.  McKinnon  is  a  lawyer  of  very  superior  abilities,  who  is  well 
versed  in  his  profession,  and  who  has  been  intrusted  with  several  very 
important  cases  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  He  is 
accorded  by  the  fraternity  a  fine  legal  mind,  and  is  probably  one  of 
the  most  cultured  gentlemen  at  the  bar.  He  converses  fluently  in 
several  languages,  and  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  classics.  His 
face  is  intelligent  and  pleasing,  and  his  manner  has  the  courtly  finish 
for  which  educated  Southerners  have  been  so  long  and  justly  cele- 
brated. 


RICHARDSON  —  MOORE.  97 

I 

WILLIAM  H.  RICHARDSON. 

Mr.  Richardson  was  born  in  Strykersville,  New  York,  in  1840. 
He  was  educated  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  from 
college  in  1861.  Soon  after  he  came  to  Chicago  and  entered  the 
office  of  Knox,  Eustace  &  Reed,  as  a  law  student,  and  in  1863  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  In  1865  he  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Mr. 
Reed,  which  continued  until  the  election  of  Mr.  Reed  as  District 
Attorney.  Upon  the  dissolution  of  the  firm,  Mr.  Richardson  suc- 
ceeded to  the  business,  and  by  close  attention  and  his  superior  attain- 
ments has  not  only  kept  but  added  to  the  large  practice. 

Mr.  Richardson  has  a  predilection  for  criminal  practice,  and  in 
his  chosen  field  is  particularly  successful.  In  conducting  a  case  he 
prefers  to  quietly  accomplish  by  strategic  flank  movment,  outside, 
what  others  attempt  by  direct  assault  with  a  flourish  of  trumpets  in 
open  court.  Mr.  Richardson  has  also  a  very  happy  faculty  of  giving 
his  clients  such  satisfaction  that,  although  still  a  comparatively  young 
man,  there  are  few  members  of  the  bar  who  have  a  more  lucrative 
practice. 

SAMUEL  M.  MOORE. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky.  He  studied 
law  at  Cynthiana,  in  that  State,  under  the  Hon.  James  Curry,  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  accurate  lawyers  in  the  State.  Judge  Moore  com- 
menced his  professional  career  in  1843.  In  1845  he  removed  to 
Covington,  Ky.,  and  soon  became  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  emi- 
nent members  of  the  bar  of  that  city. 

In  1856  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  ninth  judicial  circuit  of  Ken- 
tucky. In  becoming  a  candidate  for  this  office,  he  refused  to  accept 
the  nomination  of  any  political  party,  or  to  electioneer  for  it,  and 
while  on  the  bench,  studiously  avoided  taking  any  part  in  party 
politics,  believing  that  the  purity  and  impartiality  of  the  judiciary 
demanded  that,  as  far  as  practicable,  it  should  be  kept  aloof  from  the 
contamination  of  partisan  political  influences.  On  the  bench  Judge 
Moore  was  distinguished  for  the  soundness  of  his  decisions  and  re- 
markable industry  and  rapidity  in  the  dispatch  of  business.  It  was 
his  custom,  when  the  state  of  the  docket  required  it,  to  devote  the 
day  to  the  trial  of  law  causes,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  night  to 
the  hearing  and  decision  of  chancery  cases,  and  such  was  his 

y 


98  TH1E.  CHICAGO 

* 

rapidity  that  he  would  often  hear  and  dispose  of  a  half  dozen  cases  in 
one  night,  and  the  next  morning  bring  his  decrees  in  all  of  them  into 
court,  written  out  with  his  own  hand,  which  he  preferred  to  do  to 
avoid  the  possibility  of  error,  and  these  decrees  were  seldom  appealed 
from  or  reversed.  In  this  way  the  business  of  all  his  courts  was  con- 
stantly kept  up,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  bar  and  the  benefit  of 
the  community. 

At  the  close  of  the  late  war,  his  judicial  term  having  expired,  he 
removed  to  Chicago  and  entered  into  his  present  law  partnership 
with  the  Hon.  B.  Caulfield,  then  in  full  practice.  At  the  bar  he  has 
also  been  distinguished  by  the  same  untiring  industry,  and  by  a  clear 
comprehension  of  legal  principles,  and  an  accurate  application  of 
them  to  the  facts  of  a  case.  His  firm  enjoys  a  large  practice. 

Judge  Moore  is  a  fine  specimen  of  Kentucky  growth,  with  a  large 
and  massive  head,  and  a  countenance  beaming  with  intelligence  and 
amiability.  He  has  long  been  a  prominent  and  influential  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  filling  the  office  of  a  ruling  elder,  and 
regarded  by  his  Church  as  a  man  of  sterling  piety  and  integrity  of 
character.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  and  in 
Kentucky  was  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders  of  his  party,  though 
since  his  location  in  Chicago  he  has  declined  to  take  any  active  part 
in  political  matters,  devoting  himself  exclusively  to  the  business  of 
his  profession.  He  is  now  about  fifty  years  of  age. 


JOHN  H.  PECK.  ; 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  in  1832.  He 
received  a  good  general  education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  studied  law  at  the  Yale  Law  School,  New  Haven.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  November,  1852. 
In  1853  he  came  to  Chicago  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  In  1861  he  entered  the  army  as  Lieutenant,  and  served 
four  years.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  August,  1865,  as 
Colonel,  with  an  unblemished  record,  and  immediately  resumed  his 
professional  labors  in  this  city. 

Mr.  Peck  has  a  very  extensive  practice  as  the  result  of  many  years' 
close  application  to  business.  He  is  an  acute  lawyer,  active  and  influ- 
ential in  politics,  and  genial  in  conversation  and  manner. 


ATWOOD  —  WINDETT.  99 

JULIUS  P.  ATWOOD 

was  born  in  Monkton,  Vermont,  in  1825  ;  was  educated  at  the  Nor- 
wich University;  read  law- with  Judge  Rich,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  State,  and  commenced  its  practice  with  Hon.  Wm.  C.  Wilson, 
afterwards  Judge  of  the  same  court;  and  was  for  two  or  three  years, 
and  until  he  removed  to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  in  1861,  Professor  in 
the  Franklin  Law  School  at  Bakersfield,  Vermont.  In  1854  he  was 
appointed  Judge  of  the  Dane  County  Court,  and  held  that  position 
for  two  and  a  half  years,  when  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign. 
He  was  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Central  Committee,  and 
in  1859  was  named  by  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature  as 
candidate  for  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  but  he  declined  to  run 
and  in  1860  was  Democratic  candidate  for  State  Attorney;  was 
Democratic  candidate  for  Mayor  at  the  first  municipal  election  at 
Madison.  He  organized  the  Governor's  Guard  in  1857,  and  soon 
after  went  to  the  Potomac  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment, infantry,  but  was  early  disabled  and  compelled  to  leave.  For 
two  years  he  was  partially  paralyzed,  and  after  his  recovery  settled 
in  Chicago,  and  returned  to  the  practice  of  the  law.  Judge  Atwood 
is  a  well  educated  lawyer,  and  a  gentleman  of  more  than  ordinary 
literary  attainments.  In  argument  he  is  direct,  close  and  severe,  but 
it  is  the  severity  of  logic.  He  is  eminently  courteous  at  the  bar,  and 
incapable  of  doing  any  one  injury.  In  popular  addresses  he  is  terse 
and  methodical,  often  impassioned  and  sometimes  eloquent.  The 
lawyers  from  Wisconsin,  resident  here,  with  unanimity  requested  him 
to  run  for  Circuit  Judge  last  fall,  but  he  declined  the  honor.  He  is 
of  medium  height,  affable  and  dignified,  and  his  professional  and 
personal  character  is  one  that  commands  universal  respect. 


A.  W.  WINDETT. 

This  lawyer  is  one  of  the  best  read,  accurate  and  acute  members 
of  the  Chicago  bar ;  and  in  the  department  of  Chancery  practice  he 
has  few  equals  and  no  superiors.  At  heart,  Mr.  Windett  is  a  very 
thorough  gentleman ;  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  it  sometimes 
happens  that  his  zeal  leads  him  into  a  mannerism  which,  to  say  the 
least,  is  almost  aggressive.  He  is  very  forcible  and  determined.  His 
practice  is  a  large  one,  and  includes  many  cases  of  very  high  impor- 


106  THE   CHICAGO    "BAR. 

tance.  While  there  may  be  other  lawyers  who  are  more  popular  in  the 
profession,  there  are  none  whose  abilities  command  a  wider  respect. 
He  is  about  forty-three  years  of  age,  and  has  been  here  since  1857. 


EDWIN  C.  LARNED, 

of  the  firm  of  Goodwin,  Lamed  &  Towle,  is  a  well-known  lawyer  of 
great  ability.  He  was  United  States  District  Attorney  under  Mr. 
Lincoln.  At  present  he  remains  much  away  from  Chicago,  and  gives 
but  little  attention  to  general  practice.  He  is  a  man  of  great  wealth 
and  cultivation,  and  once  occupied  a  very  distinguished  position  as  a 
member  of  the  legal  profession. 


A.  H.  LAWRENCE 

is  a  partner  of  E.  G.  Asay,  is  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  is  a  tall,  good- 
looking  gentleman,  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  a  young  man  of 
very  decided  promise.  He  devotes  himself  closely  to  his  profession, 
and  will,  in  due  season,  be  heard  from  as  a  member  of  the  bar  in 
this  city. 

D.  K.  TENNEY. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Plattsburgh,  N.  Y.,  on  the  last  day  of 
the  year  1834,  and  is  the  tenth  and  youngest  child  of  his  parents.  In 
his  infancy  he  was  carried  "  in  arms  "  to  northern  Ohio,  then  a  wil- 
derness. At  the  age  of  eight  he  entered  the  "poor  boy's  college,"- — 
a  printing  office  —  and  continued  there  with  little  interruption  until 
fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  removed  to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and 
entered  the  University  at  that  place.  Here,  with  the  pittance  earned 
in  vacations,  as  a  printer,  he  struggled  through  three  years  of  study, 
taking  high  rank  as  a  scholar.  Becoming  tired  of  his  penniless  con- 
dition, he  deserted  his  alma  mater  and  commenced  the  study  of  law. 
In  1855,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Madison, 
and  opened  an  office  there.  From  that  time  until  his  removal  to 
Chicago,  in  1870,  he  continued  to  enjoy  an  active,  successful,  and 
lucrative  practice,  and  acquired,  through  an  honorable  career,  and 
without  adventitious  aid,  a  handsome  competence,  which  he  still 
enjoys. 

Mr.  Tenney  is  a  self-made  man,  and  of  a  peculiarly  Western 


BONFIELD.  101 

type.  He  wears  his  rough  side  out,  having  an  unpolished  manner, 
and  paying  little  regard  to  conventionalities,  or  to  a  choice  of  fine 
language  to  express  himself.  He  may  be  said  to  be  a  "  lion  "  or  a 
"  lamb,"  as  the  occasion  requires,  for  beneath  the  rough  exterior  he 
possesses  and  is  governed  by  as  fine  feelings,  and  is  as  emotional  and 
gentle  as  a  woman.  He  is  considerably  above  the  average  stature, 
has  a  fine  physical  construction,  a  large  and  intensely  active  brain, 
and  a  fine  nervous  temperament.  Is  open  hearted,  generous  and 
kind,  eminently  social,  when  at  leisure,  and  is  possessed  of  a  readi- 
ness of  wit  and  fund  of  anecdote,  and  a  unique  manner  of  giving 
utterance  to  them  which  render  him  quite  notable  among  his  inti- 
mate friends.  He  is  not  lacking  in  public  spirit,  but  despises  politics 
and  politicians,  yet  usually  backs  his  favorite  candidate  with  a 
reasonable  figure. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Tenney  is  thoroughly  practical,  and  is  noted  for 
his  keen  perception  of  what  the  law  ought  to  be.  He  entertains  a 
poor  opinion  of  the  slow  processes  of  courts,  and  leaves  the  trial  of 
causes  mainly  to  his  partners  more  able  in  that  direction.  He  excels 
in  the  office  as  a  manager  of  the  business,  and  as  a  counselor  and 
negotiator,  and  prefers  an  amicable  settlement  upon  fair  terms  to  the 
procrastination  and  doubtful  result  of  a  trial.  Where  a  grace  cannot 
be  negotiated,  he  is  most  vigilant  and  untiring  in  marshalling  the 
facts  and  the  witnesses  to  sustain  his  cause,  leaving  the  law  more 
especially  to  his  colleagues.  As  a  negotiator  and  counselor  in  mer- 
cantile difficulties,  and  as  a  collector  of  doubtful  and  desperate  debts, 
his  long  experience  and  success  have  won  him  truly  great  fame.  He 
has  no  superiors  and  probably  few  equals  in  this  branch  of  the  pro- 
fession, as  many  of  our  merchants  and  business  men  testify.  In  fine, 
he  is  a  sound  business  lawyer,  of  scrupulous  honor  and  integrity,  a 
warm  friend,  and  an  outspoken  enemy. 

Mr.  Tenney  is  of  the  firm  of  Tenney,  McClellan  &  Tenney,  one 
of  the  leading  ones  of  the  city  in  commercial  law. 


JOSEPH  F.  BONFIELD, 

who  is  indigenous  to  Chicago,  having  been  born  here,  and  having 
acquired  the  profession  in  this  city,  is  a  young  man  of  liberal,  general 
education,  an  excellent  lawyer,  apt  before  a  jury,  and  has  a  very  ex- 
tended practice,  which  is  largely  made  up  of  real  estate  litigation. 


IO2  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

With  him  is  associated  Warren  J.  Durham,  who  was  formerly  con- 
nected with  Hon.  Henry  Fuller,  of  Racine.  Mr.  Durham  is  a  well- 
read,  accurate  lawyer;  and  is  a  fine  linguist,  and  a  classical  scholar 
of  a  very  peculiar  kind. 


DANIEL  J.  SCHUYLER. 

This  gentleman  was  born  near  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.  He  is  the  son 
of  a  wealthy  faimer,  and  as  his  name  indicates,  a  member  of  one  of 
the  oldest  of  the  Knickerbocker  families,  so  well  known  in  the  his- 
tory of  New  York.  He  received  a  liberal  education,  being  a  gradu- 
ate of  Union  Colleee;  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Francis  Kernan,  of 
Utica,  N.  Y.;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1864,  and  immediately  after 
came  to  Chicago  to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

His  personal  appearance  is  prepossessing.  He  is  about  thirty 
years  of  age,  is  of  average  height,  and  compactly  built.  His  features 
are  regular  and  clear  cut,  indicating  reticence,  niceness  of  percep- 
tion and  perseverance  rather  than  aggressive  power,  while  his  manner 
shows  the  quiet,  well-bred  gentleman. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Schuyler  is  well  liked  by  other  members  of  the 
bar,  and  is  universally  spoken  of  as  a  rising  man.  There  is  nothing 
of  the  meteoric  in  his  course,  but  a  steady  progress  that  promises 
much  for  his  future;  and  while  his  present  attainments,  both  as  a 
scholar  and  a  lawyer,  are  of  no  mean  order,  there  are  heights  beyond, 
which  his  fine  mental  endowments  and  indefatigable  industry  will 
enable  him  to  reach. 

JOHN  L.  THOMPSON. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  General  Thompson,  then  a  student  in 
the  office  of  McCagg  &  Fuller,  enlisted  with  the  thirty-day  volun- 
teers, and  went  to  Cairo.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  he 
went  to  New  Hampshire  and  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier.  He  soon 
rose  to  the  rank  of  Colonel,  and  to  the  command  of  a  regiment  of 
cavalry.  He  served  during  the  war,  and  received  the  rank  of  Briga- 
dier-General. After  the  war  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  went  into  the 
practice  of  law.  As  a  lawyer,  although  a  young  man,  he  takes  a  very 
creditable  position.  He  is  well  posted  in  law,  is  very  industrious 
and  attentive,  very  cautious;  and,  if  he  has  a  noticeable  fault,  it  is 
that  he  is  inclined  to  give  more  attention  to  what  may  be  presented 


ROBERTS : — SLEEPER  — CAULFIELD.  103 

by  an  opponent  than  to  his  own  resources  for  offense  or  defense. 
He  has  a  large  amount  of  force  and  character,  and  has  a  business 
that  includes  some  of  the  best  men  in  Chicago. 


JAMES  H.  ROBERTS. 

This  gentleman  has  been  in  practice  here  some  fifteen  years.  He 
is  a  very  close  student,  a  well-read  lawyer,  and  a  good  general  prac- 
titioner. As  an  cffice  lawyer  he  is  very  superior,  and  is  a  gentleman 
of  thorough  morality  and  integrity. 


JOSEPH  A.  SLEEPER. 

This  gentleman  is  about  forty-five  years  of  age.  He  is  tall,  angu- 
lar, and  somewhat  of  the  Lincoln  style  of  architecture  —  bony,  dis- 
jointed and  awkward.  He  bears  the  appearance  of  a  studious,  pains- 
taking lawyer.  He  came  to  Chicago  from  Wisconsin  about  eight 
years  ago,  and  brought  with  him  a  very  excellent  reputation  in  his 
profession.  He  is  very  thoroughly  versed  in  common  law,  and  has 
the  credit  of  being  a  chancery  lawyer  of  high  order.  He  is  rather 
better  as  an  office  lawyer  than  before. a  jury,  although  he  is  very 
forcible  in  the  latter  character.  He  is  well  grounded  in  law,  and  his 
opinions  are  valuable  and  carefully  prepared.  He  has  been  employed 
in  many  suits  of  importance,  and  has  met  with  good  success.  He 
stands  well,  and  his  prospects  are  good  for  further  progress. 


BERNARD  G:  CAULFIELD. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  first  came 
into  notice  as  a. protege  oi  Father  Matthews,  a  well  known  and  wealthy 
Catholic  clergyman  of  Washington.  Mr.  Caulfield  was  educated  at 
the  college  of  Georgetown.  After  graduating  he  went  to  Kentucky 
and  studied  law  at  the  Transylvania  University.  He  removed  from 
Kentucky  to  Chicago  in  1854. 

Mr.  Caulfield  is  a  lawyer  of  considerable  merit.  His  most  salient 
trait  is  his  great  courtesy.  He  is  a  finished  gentleman  as  well  as 
lawyer.  In  his  speeches  he  is  deliberate,  careful  of  the  selection  of 
his  phrases,'  and  clear  and  forcible  in  the  presentation  of  his -ideas. 


104  THE   CHICAGO   BAR. 

He  is  erect,  full-bearded,  with  dark  eyes,  and  an  intelligent  head. 
His  personal  appearance  coincides  very  exactly  with  his  cultivated 
manners ;  and  he  seems  equally  at  home  whether  in  the  role  of  a 
lawyer  pleading  a  case  before  a  jury,  or  as  a  private  citizen  inter- 
changing hospitalities  at  the  social  board.  He  is  in  great  demand 
among  our  Irish  citizens,  and  is  always  put  forward  by  them  when 
there  is  anything  to  be  done  that  requires  to  be  done  well,  elegantly, 
and  intelligently. 

U.  P.  SMITH. 

This  gentleman  is  about  thirty-six  years  of  age.  He  is  tall,  slen- 
der, with  dark  eyes,  an  intelligent,  prepossessing  face,  and  a  full,  dark 
beard.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Walker,  Dexter  &  Smith,  and 
is  a  lawyer  of  unquestionable  ability,  both  with  reference  to  his 
knowledge  of  law,  and  as  an  advocate.  He  has  very  remarkable 
powers  as  a  reader  of  character,  and  in  the  faculty  of  expressing  his 
conclusions.  He  already  stands  high  at  the  bar,  and  there  is  every 
probability  that  he  will,  and  soon,  place  himself  in  the  very  front 
rank  of  the  profession  in  the  West. 

PHILIP  HOYNE. 

MR.  Hoyne  was  born  in  New  York,  in  about  1826.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Chicago  in  1855,  but  only  practiced  some  three 
years.  He  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Recorder's  Court,  and  since 
closing  his  law  practice,  he  has  been  entirely  engaged  in  his  duties 
as  United  States  Commissioner,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  Mr. 
Hoyne  is  a  portly,  good-looking  gentleman,  and  enjoys  a  very  general 
popularity. 

OLIVER  H.  HORTON 

was  born  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1835,  where  he  remained  until 
1855,  when  he  left  school  and  at  once  came  to  this  city.  From  that 
time  till  1860  he  was  engaged,  as  many  of  Chicago's  young  men  have 
been  who  came  here  poor,  alone  and  among  strangers,  in  earning  an 
honest  livelihood  by  his  own  exertions.  But  this  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  lost  time  with  him.  During  this  time,  the  transitory  period 
from  boyhood  to  manhood,  this  susceptible  period  in  every  man's 


LINCOLN.  105 

life  in  which  so  many  in  our  great  cities  yield  to  surrounding  temp- 
tations, he  formed  habits  which  added  very  much  to  his  success  as  a 
lawyer. 

In  the  spring  of  1860  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Messrs.  Hoyne, 
Miller  &  Lewis,  as  a  student.  With  this  firm  he  remained,  as 
student  and  then  clerk,  until  January  1864,  when  that  firm  was  dis- 
solved. Immediately  upon  such  dissolution,  he  entered  into  a  part- 
nership with  Hon.  Thomas  Hoyne,  which  is  continued  to  the  present 
time. 

Although  not  a  collegiate,  Mr.  Horton  had  a  liberal  education, 
and  was  a  very  ardent  student,  being  absent  from  the  office  but  a  day 
or  two  while  a  student.  Two  years  of  this  time  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Law  School  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  under  the  instruction  of 
Judge  Booth,  now  of  the  Circuit  Court,  from  which  institution  he 
graduated  in  1863,  having,  however,  been  previously,  during  the  same 
year,  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Upon  entering  into  practice,  it  was  very  soon  seen  that  by  his  four 
years  of  close  application  as  a  student,  he  was  prepared  to  cope  suc- 
cessfully with  those  already  at  the  bar.  His  case  is  another  illustra- 
tion  of  the  fact  to  which  most,  if  not  all  the  older  members  of  the 
profession  will  attest,  that  good  lawyers  are  not  made  or  properly 
fitted  for  practice  in  a  year, 

Mr.  Horton  has,  during  his  practice  of  nearly  eight  years,  been 
engaged  in  many  important  suits,  and  no  young  man  of  the  same 
years'  experience  enjoys  a  more  enviable  reputation.  By  those  who 
know  him  best  he  is  most  highly  esteemed.  He  never  condescends 
to  any  of  the  low  tricks  practiced  by  some  who  have  fastened  them- 
selves upon  the  profession.  To  his  legal  attainments  may  be  added 
the  fact  of  his  sterling  integrity.  Being  of  a  stern  and  positive  turn 
he  may  sometimes  offend,  but  never  wounds. 


ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN. 

This  young  gentleman  is  a  son  of  the  late  President  Lincoln,  and 
is  a  very  worthy,  estimable  member  of  the  Chicago  bar.  He  is  but 
a  little  more  than  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  already  has  taken  a 
position  as  being  an  excellent  manager,  possessed  of  good  ability, 
quiet,  shrewd,  unostentatious,  and  with  a  thorough  devotion  to  the 
profession  of  law.  He  is  the  more  entitled  to  credit  from  the  fact 


f.  .  '.    • 

Ib6  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

that  he  steadily  resisted  all  attempts  to  induce  him  to  accept  some 
official  position  while  his  father  was  President,  or  to  participate  in 
politics  since;  and  that  he  has  applied  himself  to  his  legal  studies 
precisely  as  if  he  were  the  son  of  the  least  influential  of  parents,  and 
has  pursued  them  under  many  painful  and  most  discouraging  cir- 
cumstances. He  has  proved  that  he  has  a  thousand  sterling  qual- 
ities, and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  with  age  he  will  attain  a  distin- 
guished eminence  as  a  member  of  the  legal  profession. 


ROBERT  RAE 

is  a  slender,  handsome  gentleman  of  some  forty  or  forty-five  years  of 
age.  He  is  very  finished  in  his  dress  and  personal  appearance,  and 
confines  himself  in  law  almost  or  quite  wholly  to  admiralty  affairs,  in 
which  he  confessedly  stands  at  the  head  of  the  profession. 


J.  A.  CRAM  * 

is  believed  by  some  of  his  professional  brethren  to  be  one  of  the  most 
able  and  promising  young  lawyers  at  the  Chicago  bar.  He  is  about 
thirty-seven  years  of  age,  is  very  modest,  quiet  and  unostentatious  in 
his  bearing,  and  at  heart  a  thoroughly  honorable  and  estimable  gen- 
tleman. 


D.  J.   LYON. 

MR.  Lyon  was  born  in  New  Orleans,  graduated  in  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  Chicago  University,  and  is  in  the  general  practice 
of  law.  He  possesses  to  some  extent  the  peculiar  Southern  charac- 
teristics. He  is  graceful,  in  manner,  and  is  a  fluent  and  impressive 
speaker.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  industrious,  energetic,  reliable,  and  pos- 
sesses ability  which  will  secure  Inrrfa"  high  position  at  the  bar.  Mr. 
Lyon  is  genial  and  gentlemanly,  and  has- many  friends  among  the  pro- 
fession and  elsewhere. 


S.  D.  PHELPS. 

This  is  a  young  and  rising  lawyer,  who  is  a  graduate  from  the 
law  office  of  Goodrich,  Farwell  &  Smith.     He  was  admitted  in  1866, 


*  Since  deceased. 


BOND.  107 

and  has  been  in  practice  since  that  time,  except  during  the  last 
winter,  when  he  was  in  the  Legislature.  He  has  been  very  largely 
engaged  in  revenue  cases,  but  now  is  in  general  practice.  He  is  a 
very  fluent,  easy  and  graceful  speaker,  and  promises  to  take  a  very 
excellent  position  as  an  advocate. 


LESTER  L.  BOND 

was  born  in  Ravenna,  Ohio,  in  1830,  passed  his  early  life  on  a  farm, 
and  in  the  practical  study  of  the  mechanical  arts.  With  only  a  good 
common  school  education,  and  a  few  terms  at  the  village  academy, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1853,  practiced  in  Ravenna  for  one  year,  and  removed  to  Chicago 
in  1854,  and  engaged  at  first  in  the  general  practice  of  law.  His 
practical  knowledge  of  mechanical  arts  and  inventions,  and  his 
natural  fondness  for  the  study  of  mechanics,  chemistry,  and  kindred 
sciences,  soon  induced  him  to  select  the  law  pertaining  to  patents  as  a 
specialty,  and  to  the  study  and  practice  of  this  he  applied  himself  with 
unremitting  industry.  In  1866  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  Hon. 
Edmund  A.  West,  formerly  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  firm  of  West  & 
Bond  are  now  engaged  in  nearly  every  litigated  patent  case  in  Chicago 
and  vicinity,  and  has  achieved  an  enviable  reputation  in  Washington, 
New  York,  and  other  eastern  cities. 

Mr.  Bond  was  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  from  1863  to 
1866;  served  in  the  Legislature  in  sessions  of  1867  and  1869;  was  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  several  years,  and  in  all  these 
positiops  won  general  respect  and  confidence.  In  his  manners  Mr. 
Bond  is  genial  and  courteous,  but  modest  and  undemonstrative. 
Thoroughly  conscientious  in  private  life,  he  carries  integrity  and 
honor  into  his  professional  duties,  and  will  employ  no  chicanery  to 
secure  a  dishonprable  victory.  His  suits  are  fairly  contested  and  his 
victories  fairly  won.  His  temperament  is  inclined  to  the  ph'legmatic, 
and  as  a  thinker  he  is  clear  and  logical  rather  than  rapid.  He  pos- 
sesses a  memory  tenacious  both  of  principles  and  facts,  and  has  a 
rare  faculty  of  correct  judgment.  With  varied  self-culture  and 
reserve  power  in  many  directions  he  was  capable  of  attaining  emi- 
nence in  other  pursuits,  but  has  wisely  chosen  that  for  which  he  is 
peculiarly  fitted,  and  as  a  patent  lawyer  he  is  now  the  peer  of  any 
member  of  the  bar  in  the  West,  and  has  few  superiors  in  the  country. 


108  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

JOHN  MASON 

is  a  lawyer  who  has  attained  a  good  deal  of  eminence  in  the  depart- 
ment of  criminal  practice,  in  which  direction  his  success  has  been 
fully  equal  to  that  of  many  members  of  the  Chicago  bar.  He  is  the 
successor  of  the  noted  Pat.  Ballingall,  of  a  former  generation.  He  is 
of  Irish  birth,  is  about  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  has  a  very  slender 
body  compared  to  the  extent  and  force  of  his  intellect. 


FREDERICK  SACKETT. 

This  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  at  which 
place  he  received  his  earlier  education.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
he  represented  his  native  town  in  the  legislature  of  the  State.  Hav- 
ing entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law,  and  finding  himself  embar- 
rassed for  means  to  prosecute  his  studies,  he  concluded  to  try  his 
fortunes  in  California,  and  in  1849  he  joined  the  thousands  who  in 
that  year  made  the  overland  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast.  This  trip  was 
a  reasonably  successful  one  for  him,  as  it  freed  him  from  his  embar- 
rassments as  a  student,  and  enabled  him  to  prosecute  his  studies 
under  highly  favorable  circumstances.  Upon  his  return  he  entered 
the  law  office  of  Thompson  &  Weeks,  of  Poughkeepsie,  New  York, 
where  he  remained  for  about  three  years.  Upon  his  admission 
to  the  bar  in  1853  he  located  in  Sterling,  Illinois,  where  he  soon 
achieved  an  enviable  reputation,  and  for  many  years,  and  up  to  the 
period  of  his  removal  to  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1869,  was  regarded 
as  at  the  head  of  the  profession  in  his  circuit.  Besides  being  a  coun- 
selor of  acknowledged  ability,  he  is  a  trial  lawyer  of  unusual  exceU 
lence.  In  argument  he  is  clear,  forcible,  and  effective  ;  and  while  he 
enforces  his  points  with  earnestness,  he  is  uniformly  respectful  to 
court  and  jury,  and  courteous  toward  opposing  counsel  and  parties. 
His  eminent  fairness  and  candor,  and  acknowledged  probity  of  char- 
acter, inspire  confidence,  and  his  opinions  command  universal  respect. 

GEORGE  GARDINER. 

This  gentleman  has  very  many  fine  qualifications.  He  has  very 
excellent  judgment,  is  a  faithful  and  reliable  adviser,  and  an  able 
counsellor,  and  is  a  gentleman  who  stands  exceedingly  well  with  the 
profession. 


FORRESTER.  109 

ROBERT  H.  FORRESTER. 

<  Mr.  Forrester  was  born  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  of  Scot- 
tish parents,  his  father  having  been  an  eminent  scholar  and  professor 
of  mathematics,  and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  He 
studied  law  at  Pittsburgh  under  the  Hon.  James  Dunlop.  After  his 
admission  to  the  bar  he  practiced  about  two  years  in  the  courts  of 
Pittsburg,  acquiring,  especially  in  criminal  practice,  the  reputation 
of  a  rising  young  lawyer  of  fair  promise.  In  1846,  he  emigrated  to 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  soon  afterwards  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  a  flourishing  law  school  connected  with  a  college  at  Georgetown, 
Ky.,  which  he  conducted  for  several  years,  Speaker  Elaine,  of  the 
present  House  of  Representatives,  then  a  professor  in  the  same  col- 
lege, having  been  one  of  his  pupils.  Afterwards  he  practiced  his  pro- 
fession in  the  courts  of  the  famous  "  Blue  Grass  "  region  of  Kentucky, 
of  which  Lexington  is  the  central  city,  enjoying  the  reputation  of  a 
sound  and  laborious  lawyer,  and  holding  the  position  in  the  old  Whig 
party  of  an  earnest  and  eloquent  advocate  of  Whig  principles,  but, 
eschewing  all  aspirations  to  office,  chose  to  devote  himself  exclu- 
sively to  his  profession, 

A  short  time  before  the  late  war  he  removed  into  the  cotton 
country  of  the  South,  and  became  a  cotton  planter  in  Alabama, 
though  still  actively  pursuing  the  practice  of  law.  In  1864,  at  the 
solicitation  of  the  friends  of  Peace  and  the  restoration  of  the  Union, 
then  a  large  party  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  including  such  men  as 
Joshua  Hill,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  and  Joseph  Brown,  Mr.  Forres- 
ter assumed  the  position  of  editor-in-chief  of  the  "  Augusta  Chronicle 
and  Sentinel,"  published  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  and  the  newspaper 
organ  of  the  Peace  party  in  that  State.  As  the  editor  of  this  paper, 
he  wrote  many  able  and  pungent  editorial  articles  in  favor  of  peace 
and  an  immediate  return  to  the  Union,  and  against  the  administra- 
tion and  suicidal  policy  of  Jefferson  Davis,  which  were  extensively 
read  and  commented  on  throughout  the  South,  and  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence  on  the  public  mind.  In  his  editorial  contests  he  fre- 
quently grappled  with  such  master  spirits  of  the  Southern  press  as 
Pollard,  of  the  "  Richmond  Examiner,"  and  other  champions  of  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  and  in  the  course  of  this  newspaper  warfare,  which  for 
a  year  waged  fiercely,  he  wrote  a  lengthy  and  elaborate  reply  to  an 
address  of  the  famous  Howell  Cobb  to  the  people  of  Georgia,  in  de- 
fence of  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  by  the  Richmond 


1'HE   CHICAGO   feAR. 

Government.  The  only  reply  which  Mr.  Cobb,  or  his  friends,  ven- 
tured to  make  to  this  answer-to -his  'manifesto-  was  a  tirade  of  abuse 
against  the  "  Chronicle  and  Sentinel,"  which  appeared  in  an  Atlanta 
'  paper.  Some  of  these  peace  editorials  of  Mr.  Forrester  found  their 
way  into  the  Northern  papers,  and  excited  much  agreeable  surprise 
at  the  boldness  with  which  they  assailed  the  Richmond  Government 
and  advocated  a  return  to  the  Union,  and  a  separate  secession  of 
Georgia  herself  from  the  Southern  Confederacy.  These  efforts  of 
Mr.  Forrester  in  the  cause  of  peace  and  re-union  did  much  to  dis- 
pose the  Southern  mind  in  favor  of  a  return  to  the  Union,  and  so 
alarming  were  they  to  Mr.  Davis  himself,  that  a  warrant  for  the  arrest 
of  the  publisher  of  the  "Chronicle  and  Sentinel"  was  issued  and 
attempted  to  be  served,  but  was  defeated  by  the  interference  of  Gen. 
Beauregard,  then  in  command  at  Augusta. 

In  1862  he  filled  the  post  of  Provost  Marshal  General,  first  of 
Western  Tennessee,  and  afterwards  of  Northern  Mississippi,  having 
the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  Confederate  service,  and  being  charged 
with  the  administration  of  martial  law,  which  he  administered  for  the 
protection  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  of  those  regions  at  a 
time  of  general  disorder  and  suspension  ol  civil  law.  While  occupy- 
ing this  position  Col.  Forrester  treated  with  remarkable  kindness' a 
large  number  of  Union  prisoners  placed  in  his  charge,  his  sanitary 
measures  for  the  preservation  of  their  health  being  so  complete  that 
scarcely  a  case  of  sickness  and  not  a  single  death  occurred  among 
them.  Many  of  these  prisoners,  both  officers  and  privates,  survive 
to  attest  the  uniform  courtesy  and  sympathy  which  marked  their 
treatment.  At  this  period  exchanges  of  prisoners  were  freely  made, 
and  the  harsh  and  cruel  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war,  which  was 
afterwards  adopted,  had  not  been  resorted  to  —  a  policy  which  re- 
ceived no  sanction  from  Col.  Forrester. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1866,  Col.  Forrester  was  sent  by  the  Con- 
federate Secretary  of  War  on  a  mission  to  Memphis,  to  negotiate  an 
exchange  of  cotton  for  provisions,  which  President  Lincoln  had 
invited  and  encouraged,  as  tending  to  reconciliation  and  peace,  by 
restoring  commercial  intercourse  between  the  hostile  sections.  This 
mission  was  successful,  Gen.  Dana,  then  in  command,  giving  to  Col. 
Forrester  a  written  order,  guaranteeing  from  attack  the  steamer  char- 
tered to  carry  on  the  trade. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Forrester  retired  to  his  cotton 
plantation  in  Alabama,  on  which  he  continued  to  reside,  practicing 


OAYTES— JACKSON.  in 

.his  profession. with  distinction  in  the  neighboring  courts,  until,  in 
1868,  continued  ill-health  and  the  troubles  of  the  country  induced 
him  to  remove  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  resided,  devoting  him- 
self to  the  practice  of  law  with  a  good  measure  of  success,  having 
gained  a  number  of  important  revenue  cases  in  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  also  a  number  of  important  causes  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Illinois. 

He  has  been  a  hard  student  in  his  time,  and  is  extensively  read 
in  his  profession.  As  a  practitioner,  he  is  regarded  as  zealously 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  cjients,  bringing'to  the  management 
of  his  cases  skill  and  ;  persistent  energy.  He  is  a  little  over  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  still  in  the  prime  of  life. 


Was  born  in  Vermont;  came  West  when  a  boy,  and  returned  to  the 
East  for  his  education,  graduating  at  Amherst  College,  where  he 
acquired  somewhat  of  a  literary  reputation.  He  became  a  resident 
of  Chicago  in  1864;  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  1867  ;  and, 
although  a  young  man,  he^has  already  achieved  considerable  promi- 
nence from  his  devotion  to  his  profession  and  his  social  excellences. 
He. does  a  very  successful  business  in  the  line  of  insurance,  banking, 
bankruptcy,  and  commercial  law;  his  counsels  being  sought,  not 
alone  for  his  legal  opinions,  but  largely  for  his  clear  and  practical 
business  views.  His  judicious  real  estate  operations  have  secured  for 
him,  early  in  life,  a  handsome  fortune.  He  is  president  of  a  railroad 
company  recently  organized  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  road 
through  extensive  coal  and  iron  lands,  in  which  he  has  large  inter- 
ests. Mr.  Gaytes  is  a  man  of  cultivation  outside  of  his  profession, 
and  has  a  rare  private  library,  which  is  especially  rich  in  old,  unique 
and  valuable  books.  It  is  hoped  by  his  friends  that  he  will  not  suffer 
business  pursuits  to  allure  him  from  his  profession,  or  to  absorb  his 
literary  tastes  and  talents,  which  his  means  would  now  afford  him 
leisure  to  cultivate  to  some  purpose. 


OBADIAH  JACKSON. 

Mr.  Jackson  is  a  native  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  came  to 
Chicago  in  1841.  He  studied  law  with  Scates,  McAllister  &  Jewett, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1861.  He  then  went  into  partnership 


1.12.  THE  CHICAGO   BAR. 

with  the  firm  with  which  he  had  studied.  In  time,  Mr.  Scates  went 
into  the  army,  and  Judge  McAllister  retired,  leaving  the  firm  as  it 
at  present  stands,  that  of  Jewett  &  Jackson.  Mr.  Jackson  is  about 
thirty-three  years  of  age,  and  is  very  popular  among  his  acquain- 
tances and  the  profession.  He  confines  himself  largely  to  real  estate 
law  and  office  business.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  brains  and  cultiva- 
tion. He  is  a  hard  worker,  a  careful,  pains-taking  lawyer;  and  the 
result  of  his  application  to  business  is  that  he  has  secured  a  very 
handsome  competence. 

GEORGE  CHANDLER. 

Mr.  Chandler  is  the  junior  member  of  the  firm  of  Goudy  & 
Chandler,  and  is  a  young  man  of  promise.  He  is  a  very  superior 
office  lawyer,  and  prepares  a  case  as  well  as  the  majority  of  older 
men  of  the  profession  in  Chicago. 

EDWARD  MARTIN. 

Mr.  Martin  bears  the  reputation  of  being  a  very  superior  chan* 
eery  lawyer,  and  a  most  indefatigable  worker.  He  is  an  Englishman 
by  birth,  and  is  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He  is  exceedingly  well 
read ;  as  a  speaker  he  is  quite  diffuse,  but  when  he  has  finished  the 
presentation  of  a  case,  but  little  more,  if  anything,  pertinent  to  the 
issue  remains  unsaid. 


W.  H.  HOLDEN. 

This  young  lawyer  is  a  student  of  Hon.  Thos.  Hoyne,  and  does 
credit  to  his  instructor.  He  is  a  young  man  of  decided  ability,  and 
promises,  with  age,  to  take  a  high  rank  in  the  legal  profession. 


KIRK  HALL. 

Mr.  Hall  is  a  young  man  of  considerable  promise,  and  who  has 
in  him  many  elements  of  great  value.  He  is  very  industrious  and 
energetic,  has  very  clear  legal  perceptions,  and  is  quite  promising  as 
a  speaker.  He  is  a  hard  worker,  prepares  a  case  very  thoroughly, 
and,  in  time,  will  make  a  lawyer  of  a  good  deal  more  than  average 
prominence. 


CAMPBELL BRADWELL  —  MC  CLELLAND.  113 

GEORGE  C.  CAMPBELL. 

Mr.  Campbell  is  lately  from  Ottawa,  where  he  was  in  partnership 
with  Messrs.  Glover  &  Cook.  He  is  about  forty  years  of  age,  is  the 
attorney  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad,  is  a  very  quiet 
gentleman,  and  a  man  of  very  fine  capacity. 


MRS.  MYRA  BRADWELL. 

This  lady  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  this  collection,  in  that  she  has 
studied  law,  and  is  at  the  head  of  the  only  legal  journal  of  any  value 
in  the  West.  She  was  born  in  1831,  in  Vermont.  Early  in  life  she 
removed  to  New  York,  and  when  thirteen  years  of  age  she  came 
West,  and  has  lived  most  of  the  time  since  in  Chicago.  She  began 
the  study  of  law  fourteen  years  ago,  and  made  application  for  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  in  1869.  She  was  refused,  and  her  case  is  now  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  having  been  taken  there  in 
regular  process  from  one  of  the  courts  of  this  city.  In  October,  1 868, 
she  began  the  publication  of  "  The  Legal  News,"  and  through  its 
columns  she  has  shown  herself  a  thinker  and  a  writer  of  a  very  high 
order,  and  has  amply  demonstrated  that  her  demand  for  admission  to 
the  bar  is  based  upon  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  requirements  and 
duties  of  the  legal  profession. 

She  is  of  medium  height,  with  fine,  regular,  sensitive  features,  an 
intelligent  and  womanly  face,  and  black  hair,  and  black,  expressive 
eyes.  She  is  a  woman  who  is  excellently  well  informed  upon  the 
current  events  of  the  day;  is  a  superior  conversationalist;  and  while 
she  takes  a  fine  rank  as  a  legal  thinker,  she  is  no  less  successful  in 
the  direction  of  being  an  excellent  mother,  and  a  thoroughly  estima- 
ble ladv. 


THOMAS  s.  MCCLELLAND. 

Thomas  S.  McClelland  is  one  of  the  most  promising  of  our  rising 
young  lawyers.  He  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but  removed  to 
Illinois  while  quite  young,  and  resided  for  some  years  in  the  central 
part  of  the  State.  He  prepared  for  college  at  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  and 
also  took  the  first  three  years  of  the  regular  collegiate  course  in  that 
excellent  institution,  but  spent  his  senior  year  at  Williams'  College, 


114  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

where  he  graduated  in  1864.  He  served  in  the  army  from  Decem- 
ber, 1864,  to  August,  1865,  and  then  coming  to  Chicago,  studied  law 
with  Hon.  W.  C.  Goudy,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  November,  1866, 
and  commenced  to  practice  June  i,  1867. 

Mr.  McClelland  is  a  close  student,  a  sound,  clear-headed  thinker, 
and  a  man  of  unusual  integrity  and  stability  of  character.  He  is 
over  six  feet  high,  straight  as  an  Indian,  and  almost  as  swarthy.  He 
is  about  33  years  of  age,  and  a  bachelor.  While  well  read  in  all 
departments  of  his  profession,  he  pays  somewhat  special  attention  to 
corporation  and  real  estate  law,  and  is  destined  to  take  a  high  rank 
as  a  Chancery  lawyer.  He  has  conducted  several  important  cases  of 
this  kind,  involving  heavy  corporation  interests,  to  successful  termi- 
nation, and  has  proved  himself  a  safe  counsellor  and  an  able 
advocate. 


J.  C.-  KNICKERBOCKER. 

Mr.  Knickerbocker  is  a  native  of  Columbia  county,  New  York, 
and  is  now  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  He  studied  law  in  Chicago 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1862.  He  has  been  to  the  Legislature 
one  term,  and  has  held  various  municipal  and  county  offices.  His 
practice  is  a  general  one,  with  a  large  amount  of  probate  business ; 
and  he  is  regarded  as  among  the  most  promising  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  profession. 

His  brother  J.  J.  Knickerbocker,  is  the  junior  member  of  the 
firm,  and  is  also  a  young  man  of  decided  promise. 


JAMES  A.  COWLES 

Is  a  young  man,  a  graduate  of  Union  College,  a  very  thorough  and 
estimable  gentleman.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  patent  law,  in  which 
department  of  practice  he  is  excellently  well  informed.  He  is  indefa- 
tigable in  application,  and  is  a  practitioner  who  deserves  and  meets 
with  very  substantial  success. 


FRANCIS  LACKNER. 

This  gentleman  is  a  German,  and  is  a  young  man  both  of  promi- 
nence and  promise.  He  is  a  representative  German  lawyer,  and  in 
addition  to  his  ability,  he  possesses  a  high  order  of  character,  and  a 
very  polished  manner. 


ROSENTHAL LEDDY BEAN UNDER.  II 

JULIUS  ROSENTHAL. 

Mr.  Rosenthal  is  very  proficient  in  probate  law,  is  a  very  superior 
classical  scholar,  understands  several  modern  languages,  is  Librarian 
of  the  Law  Institute,  a  man  of  a  very  extended  knowledge  of  books, 
and  a  young  lawyer  who  is  generally  regarded  as  one  of  excellent 
promise. 

JAMES  LEDDY 

Is  twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  studied  law  with  Higgins  and  Swett, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  five  years  ago.  He  is  well  thought  of  as 
a  rising  lawyer ;  he  has  a  good  deal  of  criminal  business ;  is  very 
energetic  and  industrious  ;  has  abundant  self-possession,  and  is  a 
speaker  of  more  than  average  ability. 

His  brother,  Thomas  Leddy,  junior,  is  thirty  years  of  age.  He 
studied  law  in  Joliet.  and  was  admitted  in  1865.  He  has  much 
promise,  confines  himself  mainly  to  office  business,  and  will  probably 
make  his  mark  as  a  counsellor  in  due  season.  While  in  Joliet  he  was 
City  Attorney  for  two  years. 


EDWIN  BEAN. 

Is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  Chi- 
cago since  the  year  1853.  He  originated  here  the  collection  agency 
now  conducted  by  Bradstreet  &  Sons  ;  his  connection  with  which  he 
relinquished  for  a  position  in  the  law  firm  of  Helm,  Clark  &  Bean. 
The  extensive  collection  business  of  that  firm  and  the  succeeding  one 
of  Clark  &  Bean  he  conducted  for  upwards  of  ten  years  He  is  now 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  Wilkinson,  Sackett  and  Bean.  As  a  business 
lawyer,  and  in  the  department  of  collecting,  he  has  no  equal  in  ex- 
tended experience  and  success. 


U.  F.    LINDER. 

This  lawyer  has  now  somewhat  retired  from  law  practice ;  and 
hence  it  needs  only  be  said  of  him  that,  at  one  time,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  and  powerful  advocates  in  Chicago,  and  possibly 
in  the  Northwest. 


Il6  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


KIRK  D.  PIERCE. 

This  gentleman,  who  is  a  recent  comer  to  Chicago,  is  of  Eastern 
birth,  and  a  nephew  of  Ex-President  Pierce.  He  is  a  lawyer  of  great 
promise ;  is  thoroughly  educated  and  only  requires  time  to  attain  the 
greatest  eminence  in  a  profession  which  presents  unlimited  scope  for 
the  display  of  talent. 

Mr.  Pierce's  personal  appearance  is  favorable,  and  he  is  a  speaker  of 
considerable  force  and  fluency.  Among  the  many  talented  young  men 
who  are  entering  the  legal  profession,  there  are  few,  or  none,  who 
have  a  more  brilliant  augury  for  the  future  than  Mr.  Pierce. 


ROBERT  E.  JENKINS. 

Mr.  Jenkins  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Missouri,  in  1846,  but 
spent  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  in  Iowa.  At  that  age,  he  returned 
to  his  father,  and  for  several  years  worked  on  the  farm  summers  and 
attended  school  winters.  He  had  the  advantage,  however,  of  a  small 
but  well  selected  library  of  History,  Biography,  and  the  Standard 
English  poets  to  occupy  his  leisure  hours,  and  this,  with  the  natural 
taste  for  reading  which  he  possessed,  gave  him  a  fair  start  in  general 
education.  He  finally  left  the  farm  and  entered  the  Illinois  College 
at  Jacksonville,  111.,  but  did  not  finish  the  course.  In  1866  he  came 
to  Chicago  and  attended  the  Law  School,  from  which  he  graduated 
in  1867.  He  was  soon  after  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has  since 
resided  and  practiced  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Jenkins  confines  himself 
chiefly  to  practice  under  the  United  States  bankrupt  law,  and  has 
made  a  successful  specialty  of  this  line  of  practice.  He  very  fre- 
quently is  called  upon  to  act  as  assignee  of  bankrupt  estates,  being 
generally  chosen  by  creditors  rather  than  appointed  by  Court.  The 
practice  of  bankruptcy  law  is  intricate  and  attended  with  an  unlim- 
ited amount  of  minute  detail,  which  requires  for  its  successful  work- 
ing a  great  deal  of  patience  and  hard  work.  Mr.  Jenkins  brings  to 
the  work  just  the  painstaking,  indefatigable  industry  which,  judging 
from  the  position  he  has  already  achieved,  will  bring  him  into  the 
ranks  of  successful  lawyers. 


PETERS DRISCOLL.  117 

MILTON  T.  PETERS. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Ohio,  where  his  early  boyhood  was 
spent  His  early  advantages  were  limited,  and  from  an  early  age  he 
was  obliged  to  depend  upon  his  own  resources.  At  twenty-one  he 
removed  to  Iowa,  where  he  began  practicing  law,  before  he  ever 
studied  regularly.  Being  a  man  of  great  force  of  character,  he  soon 
became  a  proficient  in  the  principles  of  law.  He  practiced  and 
studied  together  until  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  removed 
to  Princeton,  Illinois,  and  practiced  there  acceptably;  and  in  1866 
came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  met  with  a  fair  amount  of  success. 
He  was  in  partnership  with  Judge  Wilkinson  for  a  time,  but  finally 
went  by  himself,  and  carries  on  a  lucrative  practice  of  a  general 
character. 

Mr.  Peters  is  a  man  of  marked  characteristics,  and  full  of  contra- 
dictions. He  is  bluff  and  harsh  in  manner  and  speech,  while  at  heart 
he  is  full  of  kindliness  and  generosity.  The  nervous  temperament 
predominates,  and  he  is  quick  in  action  and  speech.  He  possesses 
acute  perceptions ;  is  impulsive  and  often  hasty  in  forming  conclu- 
sions ;  but  always  is  ready  to  make  the  amende  honorable  when  con- 
vinced of  an  error.  He  is  advanced  in  ideas,  and  is  prominent 
among  the  Spiritualists  and  reformers  of  the  day. 


DANIEL  D.  DRISCOLL.* 

THIS  gentleman  is  the  youngest  son  of  Rev.  Luther  Driscoll,  a 
Baptist  clergyman,  and  who  removed  with  his  family  to  Illinois  in 
1837.  Mr.  Driscoll  worked  on  a  farm  and  attended  the  district  school 
until  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he  commenced  teaching.  He  also 
attended  school  during  this  period,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law 
with  Hon.  Julius  Manning,  who  was  then  located  in  Knoxville  in  this 
State.  Mr.  Driscoll  came  to  Chicago  in  1854,  but  being  in  ill-health, 
and  without  means,  he  traveled  for  a  time  as  collector  for  a  city  firm. 
Recovering  his  health,  he  opened  a  law  office  in  1857.  During  the 
succeeding  ten  years  he  formed  partnerships  with  various  gentlemen, 
and  at  the  end  of  that  period  he  was  elected  City  Attorney,  which 
office  he  filled  for  two  years.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  with 

*  Deceased. 


Il8  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

Mr.  Jos.  Pfirshing — a  fine  French  and  German  scholar  —  with  whom 
he  still  is. 

Mr.  Driscoll  is  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  a  tall,  well-built  gen- 
tleman, with  light  hair  and  beard,  and  gray  eyes.  He  is  the  possessor 
of  a  very  excellent  knowledge  of  his  profession,  but  he  devotes  him- 
self more  especially  to  the  rdle  of  an  advocate.  He  is  a  very  effective 
jury  lawyer,  and  has  made  speeches,  such  as  in  the  Comstock-Grear 
case,  and  the  Dent  divorce  suit,  which  have  commanded  a  wide  notice 
and  admiration.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  criminal  business,  in  which 
he  has  achieved  a  very  pronounced  success. 

His  partner,  Mr.  Pfirshing,  is  a  very  fine  scholar,  and  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Paris  University,  and  also  that  at  Heidelburg,  Germany. 
Mr.  Volney  T.  Kenney,  the  remaining  partner,  is  a  brother  of  Hon. 
Thos.  J.  Kenney,  of  Ashland,  Ohio,  and  is  a  young  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  promise  in  the  legal  profession. 


NORMAN  C.  PERKINS. 

Mr.  Perkins  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Vermont,  in  1832.  Was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  1857.  In  October  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Perkins  came  to  Chicago 
and  entered  the  office  of  George  Scoville  to  study  law.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858,  and  has  since  resided  in  this  city,  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Mr.  Perkins  is  a  fine-looking,  genial 
gentleman,  of  cultivation,  and  socially  is  a  great  favorite.  As  a  law- 
yer, he  is  well  read,  and  inclined  to  concentrate  his  efforts  on  real 
estate  law,  though  he  is  an  excellent  adviser  and  an  able  advocate  in 
any  branch  of  the  profession. 


JASPER    D.    WARD,    ETC.  119 


JASPER  D.  WARD,  ETC. 

It  is  impossible  that  each  of  the  one  thousand  lawyers  of  Chicago 
should  receive  detailed  mention,  unless  in  a  work  which  should 
extend  through  several  volumes.  Hence  there  are  many  who  must 
necessarily  be  omitted  entirely,  while  there  are  others  for  whom  there 
can  be  no  more  done  than  barely  to  allude  to  their  names.  Among 
this  class  there  are  many  excellent  lawyers  who  deserve  more  space, 
but  which  act  of  justice  is  forbidden  by  the  limits  of  this  publication. 
Among  those  who  should  recive  more  than  a  passing  notice  are 
JASPER  D.  WARD,  an  ex-Senator  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  a 
citizen  of  prominence ;  GEORGE  H.  WINSTON,  who  was  formerly  a 
prominent  railroad  attorney ;  H.  K.  WHITON,  who  is  from  Wiscon- 
sin, and  the  partner  of  Joseph  A.  Sleeper;  GEORGE  F.  BAILEY,  who 
was  the  partner  of  Judge  Gary,  and  is  a  young  man  who  bears  a  good 
reputation  ;  H.  B.  HURD,  formerly  of  Kurd,  Booth  &  Cramer;  JOHN 
W.  BENNETT,  who  is  a  very  promising  young  lawyer ;  JOHN  A. 
HUNTER,  who  is  very  highly  mentioned  by  the  older  members  of 
the  bar ;  TELFORD  BURNHAM,  who  has  fine  abilities,  and  a  large 
amount  of  dash  and  vigor;  DAVID  B.  LYMAN,  who  is  a  young  gen- 
tleman of  good  abilities;  R.  W.  BRIDGE,  who  is  a. protege  of  Gookins 
&  Roberts,  and  who  possesses  very  fair  ability ;  L.  S.  HODGES, 
a  reputable  and  hard-working  lawyer;  DAVID  QUIGG,  the  junior 
of  Higgins,  Swett  &  Quigg>  a  young  man  of  the  most  de- 
cided ability  and  promise  ;  ANDREW  GARRISON,  who  is  one  of  the 
oldest  lawyers  in  Chicago,  and  a  highly  respected  practitioner ; 
IRA  W.  BUELL,  ex-City  Attorney,  and  a  very  clever  lawyer ; 
F.  B.  PEABODY,  who  was  formerly  very  prominent  as  a  real 
estate  lawyer;  S.  K.  Dow;  GEORGE  W.  STANFORD;  JOSEPH  N. 
BARKER,  partner  of  M.  F.  Tuley  ;  JOHN  BORDEN,  a  very  accurate 
and  acute  real  estate  lawyer,  who  is  very  highly  respected ;  NORMAN 
WILLIAMS,  junior,  a  young  man  who  promises  well  'for  the  future ; 
JAMES  H.  KNOWLTON  ;  CYRUS  BENTLEY,  from  Wisconsin,  who  has 
established  himself  as  a  gentleman  of  a  high  order  of  abilities;  L. 
A.  COLBURN,  who  is  well  known  as  a  patent-law  practitioner; 
HORATIO  G.  SPAFFORD  :  ROBERT  M.  WILSON,  ex-Recorder,  and 
who  is  a  very  effective  jury  lawyer;  W.  C.  GRANT,  formerly  a  part- 


120  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

ner  of  Williams,  Woodbridge  &:  Grant,  and  who  stands  well  and  has 
a  fine  practic ;  GEORGE  W.  THOMPSON  ;  E.  S.  BRAGG,  who  is  an 
ex-military  officer,  a  late  arrival  from  Wisconsin,  and  who  carries  in 
his  practice  all  the  precision  and  accuracy  of  a  military  drill ;  JOHN 
MATTOX,  who  is  a  gentleman  that  occupies  a  quite  prominent  legal 
position  ;  SIMEON  W.  KING,  who  is  Commissioner  of  all  the  States 
and  Territories,  and  who  has  worked  his  way  into  the  profession 
solely  by  his  own  energy ;  J.  A.  J.  KENDIG,  a  gentleman  of  fine 
social,  and  some  excellent  professional  attainments  ;  S.  B.  PERRY,  an 
old  practitioner  and  of  very  fair  standing  in  the  profession  ;  JOHN 
C.  ROBERTS,  a  very  careful  and  pains-taking  lawyer,  and  managing 
member  of  the  firm  of  Gookins  &  Roberts;  H.  N.  HIBBARD,  who  is 
Register  in  Bankruptcy,  who  is  a  very  excellent  lawyer ;  JAMES  L. 
HIGH,  who  is  a  self-made  young  man,  modest,  quiet  demeanor,  an 
industrious  worker,  a  good  lawyer,  and  an  author  and  editor  of  some 
note ;  L.  H.  BOUTELL,  for  some  years  the  assistant  and  moving 
spirit  in  the  office  of  the  United  States  District  Attorney;  S.  A. 
IRWIN,  who  is  a  shrewd  manager,  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  influence, 
a  very  excellent  lawyer,  at  present  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue, 
and  while  City  Attorney  achieved  creditable  success  ;  FRANCIS 
ADAMS,  who  is  a  quiet  gentleman,  a  lawyer  of  more  than  average 
ability,  and  was  once  City  Attorney ;  F.  H.  KALES,  who  is  a  part- 
ner of  Judge  Beckwith,  and  a  very  shrewd,  adroit,  keen  and 
thoroughly  well-read  member  of  the  legal  profession ;  S.  B.  GOOKINS, 
who  sustains  a  very  fine  reputation  in  his  character  as  a  lawyer 
and  as  a  private  citizen,  and  occupies  a  very  influential  position 
in  every  respect  in  this  community,  who  is  an  ex-judge,  and  senior 
of  the  firm  of  Gookins  &  Roberts ;  Col.  THOMAS  GROSVENOR, 
formerly  attorney  of  the  Police  Courts,  an  intelligent,  affable,  and 
popular  young  man,  who  was  shot  by  a  guard  at  the  time  the  city 
was  under  military  control,  during  the  week  following  the  fire ; 
AUGUSTUS  VAN  BUREN,  who  does  a  large  amount  of  police  business  ; 
T.  HENRY  TRUMAN,  a  young  man  who  has  traveled  extensively  in 
Europe  and  elsewhere,  and  who  is  possessed  of  a  great  amount  of 
energy,  nerve  and  ability,  and  is  a  young  lawyer  of  unusal  thorough- 
ness and  excellence  ;  H.  S.  TOWLE,  junior  of  Goodwin,  Larnard  & 
Towle,  who  is  regarded  as  a  young  man  of  much  promise,  who  has 
a  fine  education  and  considerable  experience ;  W.  F.  WHITEHOUSE, 
a  young  gentleman  of  polished  address  and  great  industry  ;  WM.  P. 
BLACK,  of  Dent  &  Black,  a  gentleman  who  is  very  highly  spoken  of; 


DANIEL    J.    AVERY,    ETC.  121 

CHARLES  M.  HARRIS,  an  ex-member  of  Congress,  a  clear  thinker, 
and  a  very  honest,  conscientious  man  ;  DANIEL  J.  AVERY,  who  is  a 
partner  of  E.  F.Runyan,  and  is  a  lawyer  of  promise,  which  may  also 
be  said  of  E.  F.  COMSTOCK,  who  is  also  a  partner  in  the  same  firm, 
and  who  is  looked  upon  as  a  rising  young  man  ;  J.  EDWARDS  FAY, 
of  Bonney,  Fay,  &  Griggs,  a  very  good  real  estate  and  business  law- 
yer, and  has  been  a  resident  of  Chicago  about  eleven  years  ;  CHARLES 
W.  GRIGGS,  of  the  same  firm,  who  is  accurate  in  his  reading  and 
practice,  and  a  young  lawyer  of  unusual  promise  ;  JAMES  L.  STARK, 
who  has  very  much  more  ability  than  he  is  popularly  credited  with, 
whose  practice  is  a  good  one,  and  whose  qualities  both  as  a  man  and 
a  lawyer  are  of  a  very  high  order  ;  JOSIAH  H.  BISSELL,  who  has  lately 
been  appointed  reporter  for  the  Seventh  Judicial  District,  is  a  young 
man  of  promise  in  his  profession,  and  possesses  a  clear,  acute  mind, 
excellent  judgment,  and  has  an  extended  knowledge  of  the  practical 
requirements  of  his  profession,  which  will  greatly  assist  him  in  his 
new  position ;  GEORGE  F.  HARDING,  who  is  a  fine  lawyer,  whose 
specialty  is  real  estate,  and  who  is  withal  a  capital  business  manager, 
and  a  man  who  stands  well  with  the  community,  and  the  members  of 
his  profession ;  CARTER  H.  HARRISON,  J.  B.  VAUGHAN,  and  many 
others. 


122  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 


THERE  are  many  gentlemen  of  great  prominence  who  do  not 
properly  belong  to  the  bar  of  Chicago,  but  who  are,  or  who  have 
been,  connected  with  it  incidentally,  or  by  indirection.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned : 

LYMAN  TRUMBULL,  United  States  Senator,  ex-Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  who  occupies  a  very  high  rank  as  a  law- 
yer, and  who  is  distinguished  for  the  clearness  and  force  of  his  judi- 
cial opinions. 

JAMES  R.  DOOLITTLE,  who  obtained  pre-eminence  as  a  Wisconsin 
lawyer  and  judge;  was  a  United  States  Senator  from  that  State;  and 
who  developed  fine  ability  as  a  constitutional  lawyer  in  the  impeach-« 
ment  of  Andrew  Johnson. 

JOHN  M.  WILSON,  who  was  for  a  long  time  the  Chancellor  and 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court ;  is  now  President  of  the  South 
Park  Commission,  and  who  was  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  in  the  Northwest,  and  one  of  the  best  judges  who 
ever  occupied  a  judicial  bench  in  Chicago. 

GEORGE  TRUMBULL,  a  very  quiet,  unpretending,  well-read  and 
able  lawyer,  for  a  time  successor  of  John  M.  Douglas,  an  attorney  of 
the  Illinois  Central  railroad. 

JOHN  M.  DOUGLAS,  who  is  very  widely  known  for  many  years  as 
the  President  and  chief  counsellor  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad 
company.  He  is  a  man  of  commanding  judgment  and  high  adminis- 
trative abilities. 

JOHN  D.  CATON,  who  was  widely  distinguished  as  one  of  the 
Chief  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  this  State.  He  is  a  man  of 
great  learning,  and  has  taken  a  very  high  judicial  rank. 

N.  B.  JUDD,  who  was  Member  of  Congress  for  several  terms, 
Minister  to  Berlin,  and  who,  had  it  not  been  for  his  absorption  by 
politics,  would  have  attained  distinction  as  a  lawyer. 

WALTER  B.  SCATES,  who  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  Justices, 
and  for  a  while  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State,  and 
who  has,  since  his  descent  from  the  bench,  been  Collector  of  the  Port 
in  this  city,  and  is  now  on  the  retired  list  of  Chicago  lawyers. 


RETIRED    LAWYERS,    JUDGES,    ETC.  123 

MARK  SKINNER,  L.  C.  P.  FREER,  BUCKNER  S.  MORRIS  and  E.  B. 
HOOPER  are  all  men  who  once  were  actively  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  law,  but  who,  having  acquired  fortunes  in  this  direction,  are  now 
no  longer  engaged  in  the  active  duties  of  the  legal  profession. 

The  courts  have  taken  away  some  excellent  men  from  the  bar  of 
this  city.  They  are  as  follows  : 

W.  K.  MCALLISTER,  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  Chicago  Dis- 
trict, a  sketch  of  whom  appears  in  another  place. 

E.  S.  WILLIAMS,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Circuit  Court,  who  has  a 
very  wide  reputation  for  his  patience,  learning,  great  urbanity,  and 
for  his  inflexible  official  rectitude. 

JOHN  G.  ROGERS  is  Associate  Justice  of  the  Circuit  Court,  one  of 
the  lately  elected  officials,  who  is  a  gentleman  of  very  finished  man- 
ners, of  impressive  presence,  who  has  a  superior  judicial  mind,  and 
who  will  doubtless  distinguish  the  position  which  he  occupies. 

W.  H.  FARWELL,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Circuit  Court,  who 
occupies  the  Chancellor's  bench  of  that  court  with  Judge  Williams, 
and  who  is  a  quiet,  unpretentious  gentleman,  and  has  a  well-informed, 
judicial  mind. 

HENRY  BOOTH,  also  Associate  Justice  in  the  Circuit  Court,  who 
has  long  been  distinguished  as  the  head  of  the  law  department  of 
Douglas  University,  and  who  brings  to  the  bench  a  very  wide  range 
of  legal  scholarship. 

JOHN  A.  JAMESON,  Chief  Justice  and  Chancellor  of  the  Superior 
Court,  who  is  an  exceedingly  patient  and  industrious  student,  has 
produced  a  valuable  treatise  on  constitutional  conventions,  and  is 
editor  of  the  "  Law  Register."  He  is  probably  more  widely  known 
than  any  other  of  our  State  judges. 

JOSEPH  E.  GARY,  Associate  Justice  of  the  same  court,  who  is 
remarkable  for  his  disposition  of  business,  and  who,  in  the  trial  of 
causes,  displays  an  amount  of  knowledge  seldom  exhibited  in  the 
same  position. 

WM.  A.  PORTER,  also  Associate  Justice  in  the  same  court,  who  is 
a  man  of  imposing  presence,  of  pleasing  manners,  and  who  occupies 
the  law  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  with  Judge  Gary. 

M.  R.  M.  WALLACE,  of  the  Probate  Court,  who  is  a  very  con- 
scientious, patient  and  pains-taking  official,  and  whose  convictions  of 
right  are  sincere,  and  apparent  to  all  who  come  before  -him. 

DAVID  DAVIS,  Supreme  Judge  of  the  United  States  Court,  and 
who  has  the  reputation  of  having  more  common  sense  than  any  man 


124  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

in  the  United  States.  He  rose  from  the  State  court  to  his  present 
position  at  one  promotion.  He  is  thoroughly  grounded  in  common 
law  and  chancery  systems,  and  enjoys  a  very  wide  consideration. 

THOMAS  DRUMMOND,  United  States  District  Judge  of  the  Chicago 
District,  who  enjoys  a  very  enviable  reputation,  has  great  learning, 
extended  experience,  and  was  made  District  Judge  by  a  unanimous 
choice 

H.  W.  BLODGETT,  Circuit  Judge  of  the  Chicago  Circuit  of  the 
United  States  Court,  who,  before  taking  his  present  position,  was 
long  and  favorably  known  as  a  railroad  lawyer  and  a  State  Senator. 
He  has  been  a  very  hard  student,  and  now  gives  very  general  satis- 
faction. 

IRA  SCOTT,  Master  in  Chancery  of  the  Superior  Court,  who  is 
one  of  the  most  experienced  Masters  in  Chancery  in  the  State.  Next 
to  him  are  JOHN  WOODBRIDGE,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  H.  W. 
BISHOP,  of  the  United  States  Court,  and  who  are  all  gentlemen  who 
adequately  fill  their  positions. 

Chicago  has  produced  a  good  many  men  who  occupied  distin- 
guished positions  at  this  bar,  but  who  are  now  dead.  Prominent 
among  these  were : 

ALFRED  W.  ARRINGTON,  a  grand  intellect  and  a  poet ;  E.  W. 
TRACY,  who  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  intellectual  men  ever 
known  to  the  profession  in  Chicago ;  PAT  BALLINGALL,  who  acted 
as  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  a  number  of  years,  and  was  a  very  social 
and  noted  man ;  DAN.  MC£LROY,  also  a  very  social  and  genial  gen- 
tleman ;  LYLE  SMITH,  who  was  an  orator,  and  possessed  the  highest 
kind  of  eloquence,  was  social,  and  always  ready  for  a  speech  on  any 
occasion ;  JUSTIN  BUTTERFIELD,  who  is  said  to  have  possessed  more 
brains  than  any  of  his  compeers,  was  a  friend  of  Webster,  and  of  a 
Websterian  class  of  intellect,  and  who  held  several  public  offices  of 
importance  for  many  years  ;  JAMES  H.  COLLINS,  who  was  a  fine 
lawyer,  and  who,  in  connection  with  Butterfield,  had  nearly  all  the 
practice  at  this  bar;  GILES  SPRING,  who  was  a  judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  and  a  first-class  lawyer  in  every  respect,  an  excellent  judge,  and 
a  relative  of  the  well-known  Dr.  Spring,  of  New  York ;  RICHARD  S. 
THOMAS,  who  was  very  prominent  as  a  real  estate  lawyer;  JOHN 
A.  BROWN  ;  RICHARD  HAMILTON  ;  THEOPHILUS  SMITH  ;  JESSE  B. 
THOMAS;  GEORGE  MANNIERE;  and  GEORGE  MEEKER. 


SUBURBAN    LAWYERS.  125 


THERE  are  legal  gentlemen  of  prominence  connected  with  towns 
immediately  adjoining  Chicago,  some  of  whom  sometimes  appear  in 
the  courts  of  this  city. 

OTTAWA  furnishes  such  men  as  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  who  served  with 
distinction  during  the  war,  and  who  was  once  United  States  Assistant 
Attorney,  and  who  is  a  man  of  very  superior  legal  ability,  without 
very  great  learning,  but  who  is  a  natural  lawyer ;  Washington  Bush- 
nell,  who  is  now  attorney  General  of  the  State,  and  who  has  clear 
judgment,  and  who,  without  being  a  great  man,  is  well-developed  in 
all  that  constitutes  a  lawyer ;  Burton  C.  Cook,  who  is  a  man  of  great 
shrewdness  and  versatility,  and  while  not  prominent  as  a  speaker,  is 
a  good  deal  of  a  manager ;  and  other  gentlemen  whose  names  must 
be  omitted. 

ELGIN  contains  the  widely-known  Colonel  Edward  S.  Joslyn, 
who  is  forty-five  years  of  age,  of  a  very  genial  and  social  disposition, 
and  who  is  an  advocate  whose  eloquence  is  almost  without  a  rival  in 
the  Northwest;  Colonel  John  S.  Wilcox,  whose  age  is  about  thirty- 
eight,  who  is  a  cultivated  gentleman,  an  evenly  and  well-developed 
lawyer,  a  good  manager,  and  an  industrious,  pains-taking  professional ; 
Major  A.  H.  Barry,  who  is  forty-three  years  of  age,  and  a  fine  jury 
lawyer;  and  Judge  R.  N.  Botsford,  who  is  thirty-eight  years  of  age, 
a  hard  student,  and  a  very  competent  office  lawyer. 

JOLIET  has  a  large  legal  force,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Hon.  Josiah  McRoberts  and  Hon.  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  who  are  both  men 
of  cultivation  and  scholarly  tastes,  with  fine  legal  minds ;  Hon.  S.  W. 
Randall,  an  old  citizen,  and  formerly  of  the  Circuit  Court ;  Frank 
Goodspeed,  who  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  Supreme  bench ; 
T.  L.  Breckinridge,  a  very  ready  and  eloquent  speaker;  Benjamin 
Olin,  who  although  a  young  man,  has  already  won  a  very  command- 
ing position  ;  Egbert  Phelps,  a  scholarly  young  gentleman,  with  very 
fine  poetical  and  literary  tastes,  and  excellent  legal  abilities  ;  Charles 
A.  Hill,  the  D'istrict  Attorney,  who  is  a  young  man,  and  is  rapidly 
rising  in  his  profession ;  and  S.  W.  Munn  and  E.  C.  Fellows,  both 


126  THE    CHICAGO    BAR. 

of  whom  have  attained  distinction  in  the  department  of  criminal  law 
practice. 

AURORA  furnishes  several  conspicuous  members  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession, among  whom  the  most  prominent  are  Hon.  B.  F.  Parks,  R. 
G.  Montony,  and  C.  J.  Metzner. 

GENEVA  has  a  reputable  bar,  of  whom  the  best  known  are  A.  M. 
Harrington,  formerly  United  States  District  Attorney  for  Northern 
Illinois,  Hon.  Wm.  B.  Plato,  who  is  regarded  as  a  counsellor  of  a 
very  able  kind. 


INDEX. 


PAGE     | 

ADAMS,  FRANCIS 120 

ANTHONY,  ELLIOT 80 

ARNOLD,  ISAAC   N 58 

ARRINGTON,  ALFRED  W.I ;..  124 

ASAY,   E.  G._ -.-..  47 

ATWOOD,  JULIUS  P 99 

AVERY,  DANIEL  J 121 

AVER,  B.  ¥.. 53 

BATES,  GEORGE  C _ ._  61 

BAILEY,  GEORGE  F 119 

BARKER,  JOSEPH  N 119 

BALLINGALL,  PAT 124 

BARRY,  MAJOR  A.  H 125 

BECKWITH,   CORYDON 15 

BEAN,   EDWIN 115 

BENNETT,  JOHN  W 119 

BENTLEY,   CYRUS 119 

BlSSELL,    JOSIAH  H __    121 

BISHOP,  H.  W 124 

BLODGETT,  H.   W _..  124 

BLACK,  WILLIAM? 120 

BONNEY,  CHARLES  CARROLL 34 

BONFIELD,  JOSEPH  F 101 

BOND,  LESTER  L 107 

BORDEN,  JOHN ng 

BOUTELL,  L.  H 120 

BOOTH,  HENRY 123 

BOTTSFORD,  JUDGE  R.  N.. 125 

BRADWELL,  J  AMES  B 78 

BRADWELL,  MRS.  MYRA.. 113 

BRIDGE,  R,  W.. 119 

BRAGG,  E.  S 120 

BROWN,  JOHN  A 124 

BRECKENRIDGE,  T.  L 125 

BURNHAM,  TELFORD 119 

BUELL,  IRA  W ng 

BUTTERFIELD,  JUSTIN 124 

BUSHNELL,   WASHINGTON 125 

CAULFIELD,  BERNARD  G 103 

CAMPBELL,  GEORGE  C 113 

CATON,  JOHN   D 122 

CHANDLER,  GEORGE , 112 

CLARKSON,  JOSEPH  P 79 

COWLES,  JAMES  A 114 

COLBURN,    L.   A Ilg 

COMSTOCK,  E.  F 121 

COLLINS,  JAMES  H 124 

COOK,  BURTON  C .. .  125 

CRAM,  J.  A... 106 

DAVIS,  DAVID 123 

DEXTER,  WIRT 44 

DENT,  THOMAS. 49 

DICKEY,  T.  LYLE 125 

DOOLITTLE,  JAMES  R 122 


DOUGLAS,  JOHN  M 122 

Dow,  S.  K 119 

DRISCOLL,  DANIEL  D 118 

DRUMMOND,  THOMAS 124 

ELA,  JOHN  W 82 

ELDRIDGE,  HAMILTON  N 88 

EVANS,  E.  W 92 

FAY,  J.  EDWARDS 121 

FARWELL,  W.  H 123 

FELLOWS,  E.  C 125 

FORRESTER,  ROBERT 109 

FREER,  C.  P 123 

FULLER,  SAMUEL  W... 18 

FULLER,  MELVILLE  W 51 

GARDINER,  GEORGE 108 

GAYTES,  CAROL in 

GARRISON,  ANDREW 119 

GARY,  JOSEPH  E 123 

GOUDY,  WILLIAM  C 13 

GOODWIN,  STEPHEN  A 56 

GOODRICH,  GRANT , 71 

GOODWIN,  DANIEL,  JR 84 

GOODWIN,  DANIEL 86 

GOOKINS,  S.  B 120 

GOODSPEED,  FRANK 125 

GRANT,  W.  C 119 

GROSVENOR,  COL.  THOMAS 120 

GRIGGS,  CHARLES  M 121 

HALL,   KIRK 112 

HARRIS,  CHARLES  M 120 

HARDING,  GEORGE  F ._  121 

HARRISON,  CARTER  H '_.   121 

HAMILTON,   RICHARD 124 

HARRINGTON,  A.  M 126 

HERVEY,  ROBERT 21 

HER  BERT,  GEORGE 74 

HIGGINS,  VAN  H 32 

HITCHCOCK,  CHARLES 37 

HILL,  EDWARD  J 87 

HIGH,  JAMES  L 120 

HILL,  CHARLES  A 125 

HIKBARD,  H.  N 120 

HOYNE,   THOMAS 9 

HOYNE,  PHILIP 104 

HORTON,  OLIVER  H... 104 

HOLDEN,    W.  H 112 

HODGES,  L.  S ng 

HOOPER,  E.  B 123 

HURD,  H.  B 1 19 

HUNTER,  JOHN  A 119 

IRWIN,  S.  A , 120 

JACKSON,   OBADIAH m 

JAMESON,  JOHN  A 123 

JEWETT,  JOHN  N._ 29 


128 


INDEX. 


JENKINS,  ROBERT  E 116 

JOSLYN,  COL.  EDWARD  S 125 

JUDD,  N.  B 122 

KALES,  F.  H 120 

KENDIG,  J.  A.  J 120 

KING,  WILLIAM  H 42 

KING,  JOHN  LYLE 81 

KING,  SIMEON  W 120 

KNOX,  JOSEPH 7 

KNICKERBOCKER.  J.  C 114 

KNOWLTON,  JAMES  H 1 19 

LARNED,  EDWIN  C. 100 

LAWRENCE,  A.  H 100 

LACKNER,   FRANCIS 114 

LEAKE,  JOSEPH  B 69 

LE  MOYNE,  JOHN  V. ._ 96 

LEDDY,  JAMES 115 

~*N  LINCOLN,  ROBERT  F 105 

LINDER,  U.  F 115 

LYON,  D.  J 106 

LYMAN,  DAVID  B 119 

MAGRUDER,  BENJAMIN   D 73 

MASON,  JOHN 108 

MARTIN,  EDWARD 112 

MATTOX,  JOHN 120 

MANNIERE,  GEORGE 124 

MCALLISTER,  WILLIAM  K 5 

MCCLELLAND,  THOMAS  S 113 

MCELROY,   DAN 124 

McKiNNON,  JOHN  J.. 96 

McRoBERTS,  HON.  JOSIAH 125 

METZNER,  C.  J 126 

MEEKER,  GEORGE 124 

MILLER,  H.  G 30 

MONROE,  HENRY  S 75 

MOORE,  SAMUEL  M 97 

MORRIS,  BUCKNER  S 123 

MONTONY,  R.  S 126 

MUNN,  S.-  W. 125 

OLIN,  BENJAMIN 125 

PARKER,  THOMAS.  [R 81 

PARKS,  HON.  B.  F.* 126 

PARKS,  HON.  G.  D.  A 125 

PERKINS,  MARLAND  I 85 

PECK,  JOHN  H 98 

PERKINS,  NORMAN  C 117 

PETERS,  MILTON  T 117 

PEABODY,  F.  B 119 

PERRY,  S.  B . 120 

PHELPS,  S.  D 106 

PHELPS,  EGBERT 125 

PLATO,  HON.  W.  B.. 126 

PIERCE,  KIRK  D 116 

PORTER,  WILLIAM   A 123 

QUIGG,  DAVID .   119 

RAE,  ROBERT 106 

RANDALL,  HON.  S.  W.. 125 

REED,  CHARLES  H.. 65 

RICHARDSON.  WILLIAM  H 97 


ROBY,   EDWARD 76 

ROBERTS,  JAMES  H 103 

ROSENTHAL,  JULIUS.. 115 

ROGERS,  JOHN  G 123 

ROBERTS,  JOHN  C 120 

RUNYAN,  E.  F 80 

SACKETT,   FREDERICK 108 

SCATES,  WALTER  B 122 

SCHUYLER,  DANIEL  J 102 

SCOTT,  IRA 1 .._ 124 

SHOREY,  D.  L 68 

SHERMAN,  E.  B 72 

SKINNER,  MARK 123 

SLEEPER,  JOSEPH  A 103 

SMITH,  SIDNEY 40 

SMITH,  U.  P 104 

SMITH,  LYLE 124 

SMITH,   THEOPHILUS 124 

SNOWHOOK,  WM.  B 66 

SPRING,  GILES 124 

SPAFFORD,  HORATIO  G _  _  1 19 

STORRS,  EMORY  A 54 

STILES,  ISRAEL  N 63 

STANFORD,  GEORGE  W.__. 119 

STARK,  JAMES  L 121 

SWETT,  LEONARD 24 

TENNEY,  D.  K 100 

THOMPSON,  JOHN  L 102 

THOMPSON,  GEORGE  W 120 

THOMAS,  RICHARD  S 124 

THOMAS,  JESSE  B 124 

TOURTELLOTTE,    F.    W 90 

TOWLE,  H.  S 120 

TREE,  LAMBERT 67 

TRUMAN,  T.  HENRY.  _. 120 

TRUMBULL,  LYMAN 122 

TRUMBULL,  GEORGE.. 122 

TRACY,  E.  W 124 

TULEY,  M.  F 43 

TURNER,  THOS.  J 94 

VAN  ARMAN,  JOHN 27 

VAN  BUREN,  EVARTS 78 

VAN  BUREN,  AUGUSTUS 120 

VAUGHN,  J.  B 121 

WALKER,  JAMES  M 22 

WARD,  JASPER  D 119 

WALLACE,  M.  R.  M 123 

WHITEHOUSE,  WM.  FITZHUGH..  120 

WHITON,  H.  K 119 

WILKINSON,  IRA  O 62 

WILSON,  ISAAC  G 83 

WINDETT,  A.  W. 99 

WINSTON,  GEO.  H 119 

WILLIAMS,   NORMAN,  JR 119 

WILSON,   ROBERT  M -  119 

WILSON,  JOHNM 122 

WILLIAMS,  E.  S 123 

WILCOX,  COL.  JOHN  S 125 

WrOODBRIDGE,  JOHN 124 


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SKETCHES  AND  NOTICES  OF  THE  CHICOGO  BAR 


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